Poké Wars: The Tears to Weep
by Rand0mness4
Summary: A young militant finds himself trapped when the world changes permanently. Suddenly free from the chains that kept him bound, what is one to do with such freedom if there isn't anything left? What is one to do if they find themselves the very essence of what they despised in the world?
1. A Simple Op

**My greatest thanks to Cornova, who permitted me to write in this universe.**

 **This is the first story that I've published, so reviews are appreciated! If I make a mistake, whether it be grammatical or lore-wise, please let me know and I'll fix it. I'm excited to write, so please let me know how I'm doing.**

* * *

The temperature of the cabin steadily rose with the Orrean heat the moment the plane slipped out of the runway. The cool interior of the tunnel vanished in a heartbeat as it slipped above the endless sand dunes, finally exposed to the unrelenting heat that was associated with the region's deserts. For the scientists, researchers, and generally privileged personnel, it was a nightmarish temperature to bear. For the security, soldiers, and personnel that kept the eggheads in line and working, it hardly made them sweat. They had been tempered by training in this heat; nearly all of the company's elite members were shipped to Orre to be tested for their grit.

Orre's deserts were a dream for the select few. If it is training or undisturbed testing, one could do nearly anything and stay under the radar- the local populace rarely strayed from the normal traveling routes and the expanding military had no reason to visit their nook near the base of the mountain. The privacy they could gain had been a reason why the company had wanted the region, and with the rebuilding of Orre's political spectrum post-Cipher they had taken the opportunity to quietly slip in. It wasn't long before the region recovered, but it had been long enough. It could finally heal from the terror and civil strife Cipher had instilled, and soon it had slipped into memory as more threats arose.

The recent series of global disasters was one such problem that worried the company. Their paranoia had kept them at DEFCON 3 for over two years now, and their research sector had been put into the leading priority to try to find and stop any more situations from escalating. But this voyage had little to do with the world's health. It was all greed.

Alexander caught himself before he drifted away into things he had no control over. He shook his head once to disband the thoughts and refocused his attention away from the diminishing dunes well below him. As he did, Alexander was suddenly aware that he had the attention of the chief director and the leading scientist. He didn't know their names; it wasn't disclosed and a simple 'sir' was more than enough to please them anyway.

It definitely mattered to please Chief- the man was taller than him by half a foot and every square inch of him was packed with enough muscle to impress a machamp. He sported a trimmed beard and if one looked hard enough you could see grey creeping in. It was a testimate to his experience, it was rare for someone to be around along enough to face the trials of age while employed.

As for the scientist, Alexander didn't know him, and he didn't care. He was just another lapdog. The man sported no facial hair, but while his structure wasn't as large as Chief- or any of the other guards- he still sported enough muscle to make him drastically stick out from the rest of the science team. The only telling factor that he was apart of the team was his disdainful attitude towards nearly every other employee.

Both men had been idly talking until that moment, and the scientist looked away sharply. Chief continued talking and Alexander felt his stomach drop. His hand twitched slightly, a nervous tick that he had never been able to suppress. He raised his arm and gave a sharp salute; his posture hadn't yet relaxed from the briefing so he was still stiff and at attention. The cabin began to cool as the altitude increased, leaving only the heat produced by the plane's reactor to keep the temperatures from dropping too far. The plane needed more than fossils fuels to power the engines, and the sheer amount of heat produced could replace a temperature control system. That might have been the reason why Alexander felt a sudden chill slip through his armor when Chief addressed him.

"Newbie, come on over here for a minute."

Aside from the minor twitch, Alexander kept his composure firm and professional, squashing rising emotions as he left his post by a door leading into another room walled off from the rest of the cabin. As he walked forward he steeled himself, and soon he was planted in front of the chief, hands firmly at his sides as he looked up at the man.

"Yes, sir?"

"You looked distracted during the briefing, could you relay to us what you are here for?"

Alexander didn't need a moment to think before replying. "Our primary objective in Alola is to retrieve information from the Aether Foundation about our funding and their research. We are to also try and help improve their containment procedures in regards to last year's breach." Alexander paused for a moment. "I am to help with the secondary objective of obtaining an ark system from the alolan government. An advanced security team is required, and I was requested to be there to help keep things diplomatic if the problem arises."

The chief nodded and gave a sidelong glance at his companion, who had begun to frown. Alexander felt a small jolt of electricity flow up his arm from his transceiver and ignored it. He would talk to Kara when he was finished. "The kid's reliable Conner."

Conner nodded briskly before another scientist called for him beyond the door Alexander had been guarding. He sped off at Chief's dismissal, pointedly ignoring Alexander as he left the two of them alone.

"Although, you do have a long list of incident reports kid; care to explain them to me?"

Alexander had been expecting a question about his prior team. HQ had interrogated him for a week about the incident that lead to their mutiny, and Alexander felt that they had not been satisfied with his answer. It didn't help that they had been ordering other grunts to question him and report back if the story changed. Kara wasn't even needed to know that. The company most likely wanted to make an example out of him still, they just couldn't because he had followed protocol following the breach. Alexander's response took longer than he would have liked, but it was still quick. "I've had a fair share of misfortune working in the field, that's all sir."

Chief stood silent, and as it dragged on Alexander felt the knot in his stomach tighten as the steel in the man's eyes seemed to harden. "I don't want your history to mark mine. If you so much as seem to do anything that isn't strictly related to the mission or from HQ I'll lock you in the cargo hold and leave you there. Dismissed."

Alexander nodded once and went back to his post. The knot in his stomach slowly lessened as Chief walked farther along the cabin to talk with other members of the security team, who all greeted him with a salute as he approached. Alexander felt another jolt up his arm and finally looked down at his augmented transceiver.

The device didn't seem to exist in the world yet, but by the company's standards, it was old. The device was originally for communications, but the engineering department had turned it into a universal tool equipped with location tracking, media storage, and a slew of other basic tools. It was commonly used in the field, but users had to be careful to avoid having it studied if they were to be captured. The device had a kill switch, and if that failed the rotom that was assigned to the device would overload it.

Currently, his rotom, Kara, was blocking the entire interface. "You've had a large increase in cortisol in your system since my last diagnosis, do you wish to tell me what is wrong?"

Kara hadn't been there for the end of Alexander's team, the moment he had seen an opening he had transferred her back to HQ to relay the situation and to send in fire support as their plans went sideways. She didn't know how it ended beside from the official report, and the longer Alexander looked at her, the quicker he realized that she must have been interrogated too.

Any words on his lips died and he remained silent. He trusted Kara only so much, he had learned the hard way what happens when you fully trust corporate programming.

Alexander physically winced at the thought. It had taken him months to realize that Kara was more than ones and zeros. He had just barely lowered his walls and somehow Kara had gotten to him. Now here they were, still partners years later.

A stronger jolt shot up his arm and Alexander snarked. "It'll take more than that if you want to bother me." Kara dropped the customary veil at the challenge and her more bold nature came out.

"Was that a challenge?" Alexander's eyes widened as he felt Kara building up a more potent charge. He fumbled for a hasty response. He had been zapped so often by Kara that he had slowly developed a tolerance for the shocks, but she could still pack a mean punch if she wanted to. Right before he could utter a word Kara began to chuckle and the energy dispersed to the rest of the device. Alexander's heart slowed as he relaxed, scowling at Kara. "What?"

"You need to improve your jokes." he muttered as another grunt walked by. They made eye contact and Alexander broke it first, looking back as two of the scientists got in an argument beyond the door he stood beside. Kara waited until the man was out of earshot and continued.

"You still can't tell when I'm playing?"

Alexander bowed his head before shoving his arms to his sides. "Yes." he huffed, intending to end the conversation there. Kara's silence didn't last as long as he had hoped.

"HQ thinks that whatever happened on that mountain will affect your efficiency in the bigger missions." Alexander's attempts at rebuilding himself crumbled as he flinched again, which didn't escape Kara. "If you want to talk, I won't record it."

"I don't want to talk about Sinnoh." He caught on to what she said and paled slightly. "Word goes around quickly, something big enough to freak out the company doesn't go unnoticed."

Especially if they accidentally funded it. Alexander added in his head. The thought quickly lead him somewhere darker and Alexander couldn't stop himself.

"Kara, tell me how many times the company has-" Alexander choked and set his jaw, fear forcing him to not finish the question. Kara noticed his heartbeat spike and hesitated before purging the last couple minutes from her record. There was a small pang of guilt as she did so, there was a time when he would talk openly with her, and she stabbed him in the back.

It kept him alive. A stray charge slipped through and Kara frowned. It bothered her that reasons why it had been a waste of time slipped in after the thought. Deflating she zapped him to gain his attention.

Before she could say anything the cabin suddenly grew quiet. Alexander looked around the cabin and noticed another guard peering out a window. He craned his neck and realized that the wing on his side was rapidly vanishing, panel by panel. Within the second the entire wing was translucent, and it quickly spread to the rest of the plane's exterior.

The engines seemed to cut out when Alexander noticed a speck appear on the horizon. In time he watched it turn into two, then four. As they got closer the sun glinted off of metal and it clicked that they were orrean fighter jets. The company believed they weren't the only ones worried about the rise of near global disasters. It was assumed that they had decided that there was a large need for increased national security, and not a repeat of the region's prior history with other regions. It was certain that the developments had made traveling in Orre more difficult to go unnoticed, thus leading to the Sinnohvian refractive plating that greatly improved the stealth technology within the company.

The jets were probably a part of a training exercise, but it wasn't addressed in the hearing. Nor was it a part of the planned flight. He watched as they grew closer until the silver angels flashed by, vanishing underneath the undetected vessel and continuing on their way.

A sigh that had been held in escaped Alexander's lips. This aircraft had no offense, and-

The lightning storm that was Chief stormed pass and up towards the cockpit before he could finish the thought. His voice boomed off of the walls so harshly that the echoes seemed to be yelling at each other as the pilots were thrashed by the giant's rage.

Alexander winced as somehow Chief got even louder as the disquisition continued. It was no contest that he was louder than the plane, the engines were still running silently. It was luck that the jets didn't hear them and turn back to investigate. The storm eventually ceased and Chief stomped out of the cockpit, his face still crested in a snarl. Alexander's armor clinked against each other as he stood rigid. As he passed Alexander heard Chief mutter about how the pilots were too busy worrying about their next flight to pay attention to this one.

A relieved sigh escaped Alexander and it remained silent for a couple minutes. It was broken when the two scientists started arguing again, and this time Alexander couldn't help but listen as it went on. Kara didn't try to restart the conversation, much to Alexander's relief, and instead opted to listen to the arguments as well. By the time they reached the ocean and left Orre behind, Alexander learned that Alola had a long history with anomalies- the better understanding of them was on the scientists' minds, and they had to beg in order to get the funding to put together an expedition to meet their informant.

It wasn't surprising for Alexander to learn that a grassroots operation was funded. Extended surveillance of the region was guaranteed if they could infiltrate the region's government. It was simple. They were already heavily invested in the Aether foundation for a defense program that the company had helped fund. All the ground work had been laid out for them to just walk on into power. Judging by how excited the scientists were getting they were more invested with the whole plethora of undiscovered research to be conducted. It sounded like they would be in the paradise region for longer than Alexander originally planned. The security detail was originally meant to escort the team around the region for a couple days and leave when they settled in. HQ had suddenly decided to randomly select some of the detail to stay behind for better security and future operations, and low and behold, Alexander was the first name to be selected. Chief was second.

While learning about ultra space was fascinating, a couple hours of the nonstop chatter had soured Alexander's opinion in the matter. He honestly was surprised that they could repeat the same information for so long. There was a breaking point when he decided that he might be able to freeze them out if he could find the heating vents for the room. The only thing that kept him from acting on the urge was the Chief's looming presence throughout the cabin and the fact he would have to fill out another petty incident report.

Kara, on the other hand, had remained quiet the whole time. She absorbed the flow of information like it was the last power source for miles, analyzing and researching what was being discussed and rapidly educating herself on the topic. She would have weighed in, but that wasn't her place, even when one of the scientists started using data incorrectly in an argument. She didn't notice Alexander's spiraling mood until the Chief walked past and he took a step forward.

"Sir, do you think it is feasible for me to research a possible third objective?"

Chief stopped midstep and turned sharply. "Newbie..." He warned.

Alexander didn't hesitate to try and reason. "The region has a large variety of gems called Z-crystals, they appear to be worth researching and obtaining for the company. They are similar to mega stones." Chief remained a silent stormcloud, "They could be mega stones for all we know, but with fewer impurities. There isn't any research into them Sir, the company owns few and the science team might be interested in them as a side project."

There was a long silence as Chief seemed to visibly fight something in his head. It broke over to the rest of the world when Chief turned his head towards the door and barked. "Connor!"

The conversations in the room where snipped at the bud and the scientist all but stumbled out of the room. His posture wasn't perfect like Alexander's, but the man wasn't ruled by him and could get away with it since respecting the security wasn't required.

"Yes?"

Alexander had to keep his hand from twitching again as Chief gave him a once over. "I want your opinion on what he told me before I act. Newbie, start over."

Alexander barely managed to open his mouth when Conner interrupted. "What could this child tell me tha-"

Chief raised a hand that seemed to cut the sound from Connor's voice. Alexander hesitantly started over and repeated his idea. When he finished Connor looked at him blankly. Slowly his eyebrows sank and he looked over at Chief. He eventually shifted his eyes to the floor and nodded. "That isn't a bad notion." he muttered to himself. Connor looked back to Chief and continued. "The grunt isn't wrong, we don't have much information on those."

"Will it be a problem to go in that direction?"

Connor absent mindlessly shook his head and began to walk through the door he came out of. "No, no. It should be considered." He stopped before he reached the door, looking at a watch strapped to his wrist. "We have a couple more minutes before we reach the airport." He turned back to the two near-equally tall men before him. "I'll look into it." If there was any form of praise Alexander received, it came as Connor looked him over with a lack of contempt.

As the door shut Alexander reached over and grasped the underside of his transceiver, near the compartment with the kill switch. It was another habit he had when he was nervous, and he didn't notice he did it. It seemed that he already was prepared for the fallout.

Kara felt the contact and it brought her back to the first couple of months that she had been with him. It was a bad habit of his that had never gone away; the exact area his hand was on had a perfect imprint from all the times he had squeezed it subconsciously when he was younger.

Both had their attention ripped back to Chief when he latched onto Alexander, one hand laced into his armor, the other clamped down on his neck. The floor left his feet as he was lifted up and slammed against the wall behind him, his helmet batted against the metal.

"How dare you go against my direct order!" Spittle landed on his face as fury dictated Chief. He pulled him back and slammed him against the wall again, the sound of his helmet sharp as it clattered against bare metal. Alexander couldn't breathe, and instinct lead him further into trouble when he grasped Chief's wrist that held his neck. He felt the heat rising off the man in waves, and he was airborne for a brief moment as Chief threw him against the floor. Alexander felt his spine pop in a couple places and shook his head, keeping his attention on his commander.

Alexander should have known. He had enough warning from the pilots that this man had a violent temper and he had to just go and poke at it anyways. It was a good first step for being on his partner's good side. "I knew you wouldn't even make it out of the day!"

Chief advanced on him and Alexander kept still, he had been in this waltz many times before. Trying to flee would just piss him more, and there wasn't anywhere he could go anyways. He braced himself for the next reign of strikes and felt electricity course up his arm. It was so unexpected that he was struck mute by the action.

Kara had been present at many beatings similar to the upcoming one and done nothing before. He couldn't blame her, she'd be scrapped if she tried to intervene. For a moment Alexander felt fear; not from Chief, who fully intended to pummel his sorry ass into paste, but for Kara, who seemed to have suddenly hit a breaking point that he didn't think she had.

Whatever Kara planned, she was going through with it as the shock suddenly coursed throughout Alexander's whole body, causing him to grunt and strain against the surge. The energy burned through his veins and seemed to magnify tenfold as Chief approached, and Alexander seized as he lost control of his limbs, his sight, his hearing. Little archs of electricity shot along his flesh and into the floor. It stopped as soon as it came, leaving him spasming on the floor.

Alexander rolled and he vomited, losing his brief arm control and falling into his own mess. Everything was cloudy, his veins had not experienced a shock like that in some time and throbbed, adding to a rapidly growing headache that threatened to crack open his skull. He had to force his eyes open; slam his fists into the floor to keep himself from slipping into the darkness circulating his vision. Fighting the spasms he pushed himself to his knees and finally managed to look over at Chief.

Alexander's mind cleared enough for him to hear a high pitched whine. He turned his head and saw Chief standing ridged, his hair on end and mouth open in a snarl. His attention wasn't focused on Alexander anymore as he stiffly smashed his hand into his own transceiver, which was shooting sparks. Alexander watched with horrid fascination as the panel covering the kill switch sprung open. The transceiver's locks released and Chief threw the device with as much force as he could across the cabin and between some seats, jerking to a knee as he did so.

The whine suddenly grew to a pitch that pierced through the rest of Alexander's foggy mind, snapping him out of his daze. He watched the screen emit a blinding glow that ended so quickly that he couldn't be certain if he had seen it at all because in the next moment the whole device exploded into flames: the screen vaporizing into dust as a rocket of sparks engulfed it and the seating. The light the explosion emitted was glaring, leaving spots to dance across his vision. The rocket shot past Alexander and farther down the cabin, barely missing the room where the scientists where. By the sounds of it, the scientists were having their own issues as frantic shouting broke out throughout the cabin.

The plane shuddered underneath Alexander and Chief's booming, authoritative voice was lost as the shouting throughout the cabin turned into screams. There was a tremendous thud down below in the cargo hold and something hit the floor, causing the steel to warp and knock some seats from their fastening. Chief staggered from the impact and fell against the wall, grabbing a pipe above him as the plane rocked.

The floor suddenly turned a sharp degree, throwing Alexander into a row of seats beside Chief. The lights above them grew harsh and some blew from the surge, raining glass. Connor came stumbling out of the room with blood on his uniform and was shoved aside by a scientist that had been behind him. A hellish screech broke through the din and Alexander turned to see the copilot jerk out of the cockpit. Little archs of energy shot off of him and scorched the walls as he finally succumbed to the pain, falling to his knees as his clothes caught fire. An arch of electricity shot from his arm and to his headgear, fusing it into his head as his eyes finally shot from his skull. His own personal transceiver finally blew, amputating his arm from the rest of his mottled body. A new rocket of sparks shot from the corpse, striking the ceiling and burrowing into it. What lights that remained disintegrated as uncontrolled electricity shot through them, frying nearly everything on the plane as the overload hit critical. Pipes in the ceiling burst as their contents were super-heated, and the rocket deflected off of something and went sideways.

The more frantic scientist made two steps into the rest of the cabin before that streak of energy shot past him and struck the wall. The metal softened and the entire structure of the plane shuddered as it breached. The air pressure changed so suddenly that the scientist never had a chance. The air was sucked out of the plane, dragging the unfortunate soul with it. The scientist hit the breached area and for a brief second, he was the plug keeping the rest of the air in. The screeching of the engines blocked out the pained screams as his spine snapped. The man folded and was sucked through the rest of the way.

Chief managed to reach out and grab Connor by his leg as he shot by, not having anything to tether him as Chief was lifted from the wall; the pipe nearly breaking under the weight of the two men.

The roar of the wind deafened Alexander, who was slightly farther from the breach than Chief. He reached down and grabbed ahold of a seatbelt flailing in the wind and managed to tie himself down. He simultaneously groping for one of Chief's legs, snagging it as well; pulling him down and away. Chief dragged Connor from the brink just in time as the copilot's corpse went airborne, missing Connor by an inch. The wall of the cabin opposite of them groaned and the windows shattered, pieces of the stealth plating tearing free and thrown to the wind like feathers.

The descent from the sky grew faster as all control was lost. The engines cut out as they overloaded and burst, leaving smoke streaking behind the plane as it spiraled. The shift in gravity caused the pipe Chief was holding to finally break, sending them into the cabin's ceiling. They bounced before smashing into the cockpit wall. The roll would have thrown Alexander too if he had not used the seatbelt. After that, he couldn't tell what happened as he felt the floor jerk once as something heavy struck it one last time. There was an ear-shattering groan that cut through the wind, the screaming engines, and everything else. The shearing steel was scarcely muffled, but Alexander turned his head in time to see the back half of the plane suddenly tear free. Through the shock, Alexander noted faintly that he had been standing on the other half of the plane seconds ago, outside of the room that held some of the most intelligent minds regarding ultraspace that the company had.

Within a blink it was gone: replaced by blue skies, trailing smoke, and cargo as it was freed from its confines.

In that moment he was deaf, there was nothing else to hear beside the wind carving into his ears and against his flesh. His death grip on the seat beside him ended abruptly as the entire row it was attached to tore free from the floor, nearly taking his arm with it. Alexander's seat was next, the ones opposite from him were already gone, and he could feel his start to give way to the void. He tore his head from the skies and turned to Chief.

Chief was busy forcing an ashen Connor into a grey backpack to notice Alexander at first. He grabbed the scientist by the collar and the man tried to push him off. Chief snarled something and grabbed a cord sticking out of the pack. He jerked on it and Connor's face filled with terror as the pack expanded. Fabric shot out and immediately caught the wind, lifting Connor off his feet. He was screaming as he shot past Alexander, and Chief watched him until he passed Alexander. Their eyes made contact at that point, and Alexander saw shock flicker in the man's eyes as he registered that he was still in the plane. He broke eye contact to look at a compartment at his feet and shook his head. He suddenly leapt from his spot, not looking at Alexander as he flew by.

Alexander watched numbly as he flew past; his parachute deploying and hurtling him out of the doomed aircraft. The spiraling grew more intense as vertigo began to blur the lines of an otherwise clear image. Chief quickly became nothing in the blue as blood rushed to Alexander's head. Darkness began to claim the colors, and the last one Alexander could coherently make out was a streak of green as he faded out of existence.

* * *

There wasn't time. Maybe if he had seen him sooner there might've been a chance. Chief had narrowly saved Connor, who had wasted precious seconds trying to resist. It didn't help that he handled him like a toddler; the man's pride somehow could emerge in the worst of times. There just wasn't the time to save the newest member of his team. There wasn't another parachute in the compartment and the other compartments were out of reach.

Try as he might Chief couldn't get Alexander's look out of his head. Couldn't stop looking at the clock that ticked away at his chance of living. He was going to hell already, what would another lost life do?

Floating through the air Chief had plenty of time to run excuses through his head, how every other choice would have left him dead. It didn't matter. The rising smoke from Melemele's forest seemed to jeer at him as he drifted closer to it. He could be there right now instead, but he had chosen a kid's life over his own.

HQ had sent the eighteen-year-old with a warning label. The kid was a risk to the company: he had seen too much, was seen too much. Chief couldn't figure out why the kid was around, and he wasn't paid to ask. Looking at the wreck HQ didn't have to worry anymore about the kid.

Chief glowered at the forest below him. He had about ten minutes before he would be on the ground; Connor maybe thirty if he remembered to control his flight path. It was still plenty of time to go over every reason why he was the world's worst piece of shit.

A metal box fell past Chief and vanished into the trees. He looked up but couldn't see past his chute so he went to look back to the rising smoke. His eyes traveled over a dark plume as he did, causing him to do a double take. He jerked around and caught sight of another column rising into the sky. Scanning the horizon he could see multiple rising tendrils across the island. One nearly clotted out the sky, and Chief visibly shook as he realized that the origin of it was the Hau'oli city airport. A second orange mushroom started rising from the area and Chief forgot his surroundings as he watched it expand upwards.

A tremor worked up his arms and Chief didn't try to hide it. What was happening?

The longer he watched the smoke rise, the more he realized that what happened to the plane wasn't isolated. The whole island was affected. A knot formed in Chief's stomach and he looked back to the plane's wreckage. His only form of communication had exploded; he couldn't report back to HQ. Another larger box tumbled past and Chief watched it fall. A light bulb went off. There might be something in the cargo.

He had looked at what they were transporting and remembered that there was a communication array. If most of it was there he could contact HQ and report the incident. They would send in reinforcements to extract Connor, the man was their last chance at developing their own technology, he was too valuable to be left in the hot zone.

Until then, there might not be enough time to gather what was needed. He might be able to hide the more expensive cargo, but the rest he would have to destroy to keep the company hidden when the crash was investigated. Looking back at the smoke he frowned. There would be time.

Chief looked to the ground below him, looking for a clearing to land. He had a plan now, time was against it. He quickly navigated his way towards a field before noticing that he was going too fast. Chief tucked his legs as he hit the ground, flattening a swath of flowers as he hit the ground and was dragged a dozen more yards before the parachute finally slowed enough for him to regain control. He threw off his pack the moment he could and turned to the sky, looking for Connor.

He managed to spot him about a mile above him, rapidly closing the distance. Connor hit the ground in a much more graceful manner, but as he tried to stop he tripped over something in the grass and fell flat on his face. He didn't rise immediately, enjoying the feeling of the ground against his face. He must have felt Chief's eye on him because he shot up, brushing off grass and brightly colored flowers as he stormed over. He stopped in front of Chief, the darkness etched into his face enough for Chief to actually raise an eyebrow.

"I'm expecting a thank you."

Connor slowly raised his arms and stopped halfway, his hands curling into fists as he tried to restrain himself. He shook them violently and snarled. "What?!"

Chief would have laughed if they were not in their predicament. "We need to get to the wreckage. There might be some surviving communications in the cargo, but we need to be moving."

Connor seemed to freeze, his fists lowered to his sides as he gave an incredulous glare. "Most of it is in the ocean!"

Chief shook his head. "I loaded it, the communication array was at the front of the plane." He started walking as he continued. "You're coming along, I need help moving shit."

Connor watched Chief's back as he made his way to the forest. He contemplated heading for Hau'oli but his feet started in the direction alongside Chief. He knew he couldn't run as fast as Chief, and the man would drag him along regardless if he was awake or not.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading this far! Tell me how I'm doing, is there anything I need to work on or improve? I'd love to hear feedback.**


	2. Falling from Grace

**My thanks to Cornova, for allowing me to write in the universe s/he created.**

* * *

Little flecks of gold drifted in the wind; dancing along as the wind carried them away. They floated in and out of Alexander's vision and danced across his cheek. It was relaxing to watch it flutter in the wind like freshly departed pollen, but it burned; they seemed to sink deeper and deeper into his flesh as the time wore on. The gold was all he could focus on; everything beyond it was grey, distorted. Blinking cleared it only a little as the gold began to merge into each other, becoming bolder as their edges became more defined. The background began to clear as the empty slate became less smooth, rivets and wires began to melt into existence as Alexander blinked once more, grimacing as he was overcome by a sudden surge of pain behind his ears.

His arms were stone, unflinching no matter how hard he tried to move them. Nails slowly became to twist inside his skull and Alexander's breath was lost as a sudden wave of agony swept over him. The surroundings began to blur as his eyes misted over. An arm overcame its own weight and he pressed a hand against his temple, grinding a knuckle into his flesh to try and dispell the migraine. There was a faint pop a couple yards away and a new wave of the gold passed him by, caressing his sore face once more. It went unnoticed as Alexander's other arm came up and slammed against his leg, forcing a grunt out of himself as he managed to pry his eyes open.

The wall once again greeted him with its exposed wires and buckled plating. Eyebrows lowered and the next golden spurt gained his attention. He followed it until it bounced off the ground and faded out of existence. Alexander glanced to where the sparks came from and regretted it as harsh sunlight pierced his already sensitive vision. Abandoning his curiosity a hand managed to find the buckle and press the button, releasing Alexander.

Something didn't click right away as the seat fell away and the ceiling rose to greet him. Raising his arms saved his head as Alexander struck the roof and bounced, rolling along until he hit something farther down the cabin. A piece of metal nearly broke a rib as he smashed into it. There was a crack as his armor gave but by the time it struck his body the momentum was lost.

A faint groan echoed along the metal tube and Alexander cursed quietly. His eyes widened when he turned to find that a tree was what had stopped his fall. Jagged pieces of the roof stuck out and the pipe that had gone for Alexander's ribs was one example of the shrapnel decorating the tree.

Shifting so that the pipe was no longer digging into his back Alexander rested more fully against the tree, looking at the cabin. He was sitting on the ceiling, with the walls buckled around him and the floor above him heavily warped. Every metal surface is pocketed with scorches. Further along beyond the dislodged seats and loose floor coverings was a bright space that Alexander couldn't bring himself to look at. The recent events flowed through the mud in his head, sounds warped and visions were cloudy as he tried to pull them from his mind.

Eventually something hazy began to piece together, but he was distracted as the gold flecks once again approached Alexander. This time however they hit the tree next to him, burning into the already scorched bark. He felt his face and winced as fire seeped across the offended area and quickly pulled his hand away, noting that there was faint resistance as something tried to cling to his hand.

The sparks had done their damage, originating from some exposed wires that had crossed paths.

Alexander frowned and grabbed his helmet as another wave of pain shot through his skull. He wanted to curl into a ball, grab his legs and just scream until the pain was dull. Nothing of his prior injuries compared to the pressure that desired to break free. He'd been through broken bones, cold steel, and psychic torture. The torture hadn't ever been this bad; sure he hadn't been able to see straight for a couple days, but he could see. He was nearly blind with this pain. He couldn't even scream as his breath was too ragged to get enough air into his lungs.

Gasping Alexander reached up and grabbed a branch, pulling himself from his resting spot and towards the light. It was excruciating; every inch the light grew brighter and the pounding in his head grew more intense, but he was compelled to get out of the wreckage.

He pushed himself through broken chairs and over shattered pipes as the light blinds him. He can't see anymore and fumbles for another handhold to drag himself along. The pain has reached levels Alexander hasn't experienced in a decade and somehow he manages to weakly grab ahold of one last handle to pull himself into the light. Or at least he tried to.

The ceiling shifted and the panel Alexander was on gave way, throwing him into the abyss. He fell for a couple feet and landed in soft soil. His eyes began to re-adjust to the better lighting and the migraine retreated enough for Alexander to shakily put some weight on a leg. Propping himself against the side of the trench he had fallen in Alexander managed to stand. Pins and needled worked across the flesh in his legs and he sighed as there was something else to focus on besides his head.

After a couple shaky steps Alexander moved towards the end of the trench as the dirt began to slope upwards. Large pieces of steel and wood lay half submerged in the dirt as Alexander passed under an enormous tree that had fallen across the top of the trench. It quickly leveled out and Alexander stood mute as he could see the rest of the crash site.

All the trees in the area had been leveled. Ones that had not snapped in half had been uprooted, and they had taken parts of the plane with it. A wing jutted into the sky as it lay propped against some trees nearly double the width Alexander stood tall. The cargo lay scattered among the destroyed trees and a quick check showed that there wasn't any cargo inside the piece of cabin Alexander had come from.

Alexander took another step and stepped on something soft. His attention snapped from his surroundings and he recoiled from the sight at his feet. A few colorful feathers near the charred remains were the only hint that it had once been a bird. Smoke rose above it slowly and Alexander took a step back as the smell filled his nostrils. It was delicious, and Alexander took a couple more steps back before thoughts of condiments could invade his mind. Scanning the environment closer he could see similar pokemon had met the same fate and Alexander found himself counting. He stopped when he passed twenty. He didn't know how long he was out but the bodies looked fresher than the wreckage, some that had not been completely fried still bled and painted the dirt around them a dark red. The smell of cooked meat was potent in the area but Alexander thought he could smell something more metallic in the air.

He didn't know how much time he spent gawking at the destruction around him but Alexander was brought back to reality when a loud crack broke the silence. Alexander flinched as the sound cut into his sensitive ears. There was another survivor. Alexander's hand gravitated towards his sidearm as he stumbled towards the location. He made it past a tree that had lived for a century and leaned against it. He stuck his head around the side and flinched as something smashed into his helmet. He heard the report of the gun faintly as he lost his footing and stumbled out from his cover. Shaking off the sudden daze Alexander raised his transceiver to his face. If another round was fired the metal would deflect the bullet and save him from a lethal injury.

"Newbie?!"

Chief and Connor stood agape from their position behind an uprooted tree. Chief didn't look right when he was shocked- the grizzled face he sported just wasn't meant for it. His relieved look vanished as soon as it came as horror replaced it. He wasn't looking Alexander in the eyes anymore, but just above them as if something was perched on his head.

When Alexander reached up he didn't know what to expect. His hands moved along his helmet until they struck something cold and hard. When he touched it he felt something move along his scalp, digging deeper into it. He reached for the strap keeping his helmet on but stopped when a new sound broke the silence.

The first thing that Alexander thought was that it sounded like a frantic microwave or a robot off of a cheap film. The sudden orange blur proved that it was neither. It closed the distance between Alexander and the others within the time it took him to register that he was seeing it and the ozone in the air thickened. Alexander took a step back and found himself against the tree with nowhere to go. Another dizzy spell came and he slid as his knees weakened.

The blur kept a short distance from him and the energy in the air was increasing as it became more frantic. Alexander blinked slowly and tried to determine what situation he was in, but he was still shaken up pretty bad and couldn't complete his train of thought. The damn sounds it was making didn't help.

He looked closer at the blur and realized it wasn't moving anymore. Raising a hand he rubbed his palm against his eyes. Everything began to refocus and he could finally make out what he was looking at. It was a rotom. Its distress leaked into the air and perplexed Alexander until the final piece of the puzzle clicked into place. "Kara?"

Kara bobbed once and turned to Connor. He flinched but held his ground as he continued closer. "I can help him, give me a chance."

Alexander's eyebrows furrowed. What was he going on about? The man trembled slightly as he took another step closer and Kara floated back slightly. Losing interest in the two Alexander reached up and unlatched the clasp keeping his helmet on. He wanted to see what they were worried about and ignored the sound Connor made when he pulled his helmet off. He faintly felt liquid running down his face as he looked at his helmet. The sunlight glinted off a piece of steel with the dimensions of a clipboard as it protruded from the ruined helmet. Alexander felt the crack in his helmet and turned the headgear to follow it, numbly realizing that it had been split in half. Turning back he tugged on the metal slightly, but it didn't budge. Trying to calm the tremors working up his arms Alexander placed the helmet beside him, noticing that blood coated the interior material.

"You're the luckiest son of a bitch I've met kid." Connor reached down carefully and parted the matted hair to examine the wound. Alexander barely felt it and glanced back at his helmet. He was alive. He had to repeat that a couple times for it to sink in, and sharp pain in his skull reminded him that he forgot the word barely. Connor whistled, much to Alexander's annoyance as the sound hurt his ears. "We'll need to find a first aid kit- you need stitches."

Connor reached down and grasped his hand. "Ready?"

Alexander nodded and Connor managed to lift him to his feet. When his knees threatened to buckle again Connor slung his arm over his shoulder and helped keep him afoot. "Easy there, let me find you a better place to rest."

He was taken to where Chief was looking through some cargo and motioned to sit on one of the discarded crates. Chief glanced from his work and suddenly stood rigid. He strumbled through some branches and had almost made it to Alexander before Kara placed herself between them, rising to meet Chief's height. They glared at each other as they both stood rooted in their spots. Connor seemed to shrink beside Alexander as tension began to escalate. Alexander tried to tell Kara to back down but started coughing the moment he opened his mouth. Chief broke eye contact with Kara and looked at Alexander, then one of the smoking cadavers, and finally back to Kara.

"I don't know what you are thinking right now, but if you don't step down I swear it'll be the end of you."

Connor suddenly spoke from his position slightly behind Alexander. "How about you don't threaten Alexander's death tazer and tell it about our predicament? That seems to be the best option." He ventured. He hardly managed to keep his composure when the titan turned to him with fire in his eyes.

Chief lifted a small device in his hand and waved it around slightly. "Our communications are dead and we are cut off from HQ. You-" He pointed sharply at Alexander, "-still have your transceiver and our only way of communication. I'm going to use it to report the loss of a plane full of personnel and staff." The venom in Chief's voice was potent enough to kill, and Alexander cowered slightly under the attention.

"Kara, stand down!" Alexander barked. She had never acted even remotely hostile before, this sudden behavior change was startling. This was grounds for capital punishment for Alexander. Kara would be separated and scrapped, and a new rotom would take her place.

Kara eyed Alexander and reluctantly obeyed. She drifted out of Chief's way, but the two didn't break from their stalemate.

Alexander looked down to his transceiver and powered it on. He could set up the connection well before Chief's ego could be overcome by the importance of what was happening. "How long has it been?" Connor, who had been leaning over his shoulder, replied quietly as he turned his attention back to Chief, who had finally given up on trying to intimidate Kara.

"I'd say an hour." Connor looked to a pile of burnt feathers and his eyes nearly sparkled. "What happened here?"

Alexander shrugged as he examined the same pile. "I woke up about five minutes ago, you'd have to ask Kara when she goes back into the transceiver." As he spoke the 'mon in question had drifted further from them and was facing the forest at the edge of the crash.

Connor had begun to wrap Alexander's head to slow the bleeding when Chief finally made his way over. Alexander turned his attention to Chief as the loading sequence finished and greeted him meekly. "I'm sorry Sir, I don't know what's gotten into her."

Chief's glare softened slightly as he looked to the ruined helmet a couple meters away and then back to Alexander's bandages. His eyes traveled then to a large piece of metal that had several scorches welded into it. "It might not be your fault. I don't know how it didn't go ballistic like the rest of the rotom, but it's probably still being affected. A weapon could have been used against the whole island for all we know; I saw severe damage on the way down, so it wasn't just us."

Chief noticed that Alexander kept using different pronouns for his rotom and recalled that he hadn't used its species name to address it. He glanced over at him but didn't say anything. He wasn't certain if it was a violation of company procedures to become attached to their property.

Thinking about the little bastard made his hackles raise. The damn thing tried to fry him when his back was turned. He had watched it push of the local pokemon and they had approached when it was clear. It was still juiced from the fighting and had attacked them. One thing was leading to another, but before it could boil over the suddenly alive Alexander decided to wander right into the middle of the fight and get shot. The recruit was nearly a white pidgey- the fight ended right then and here they were, back on the same side again.

Mostly, at least. Chief kept catching it watching him when his back was turned. It was a liability the longer it was outside of the transceiver, but he figured it would only listen to Alexander, who was scrutinizing his device with growing disbelief. He didn't think much of it after the kid's free fall and head injury but he paused when Connor shot to his feet and started cursing.

He had escorted this man multiple different times to many scientific sites before, and not once had he heard a curse slip from that man's lips once. By the time he could get to Alexander, whose face seemed to have been bleached of all color, Connor had managed to surpass all the profanity that Chief had uttered that day.

It was acceptable when he finally saw the screen too. A notification with a red background was flashing in bright white letters: DEFCON 1. Chief's legs went numb and he had to sit down next to Alexander, who raised a trembling hand and swiped left. Text began to fill the screen.

" _All personnel are to report to the nearest surviving base immediately. If you cannot at this moment find a secure location and wait for pick up. Help should arrive within four to six hours, depending on your location from the nearest functional base. If help doesn't arrive with that time frame vacate the area and find another secure location or try and make your way to the nearest installation. In the following chaos, you will be needed more than ever to bring peace to the surviving populations and prevent as much damage as possible. Instructions on that procedure will be listed later. If these directions are ignored you will be assumed to have become insubordinate and marked as a class-A civilian. You will be found and proper procedures will be enacted_."

A briefing popped up as soon as the prior message finished and the air grew harder to breathe.

" _To all surviving personnel that are reading this, do not travel to the nearest installation or base. Losses are unclear at this moment but reports have suggested that over 70% of installations have suffered catastrophic breaches and have declared a code black purge. Another 25% have suffered catastrophic structural damage and are being evacuated at this time. Stay where you are and report back so that we can update your whereabouts for future search and rescue operations. An unknown event of global proportions unfolded one hour, thirty-two minutes, and eleven seconds ago and has since disrupted every settlement on record. Research is ongoing as to how this phenomenon occurred and if it is related to another organization. If you have surviving pokemon do not release them. Widespread reports of lethal attacks are spreading and losses of personnel have been rising as time progresses. Remember that we are currently unable to send rescue so do try and find a secure location. It should be heavily fortified and armed. Do not leave that location once you have contacted the nearest operational installation. Be prepared for anything, many nations are already on the verge of declaring war and the threat of nuclear fallout is rising. You will not be marked as a class-A civilian if these standards are not met. You are expected to survive so don't expose yourself in the coming weeks or months. Wait for extraction, and during this time do what is necessary to survive. All prior restrictions are being lifted in an attempt to minimalize losses, so no punishments will be issued for violations of anything below tier two infractions during this time. A green button will appear on your screen shortly, press it to update command on your current situation. You will report back every three days or until extraction arrives so that we can keep an accurate record of the area around you."_

Alexander wordlessly looked to Chief and offered him control of the transceiver. Chief was as stunned as he was, and his hands shook as he pressed the button. A panel the size of a dime slid open and light spewed out. It flickered before the hologram cleared up, revealing a disheveled intern. The man was resting his head in his hands and nearly fell out of his chair when they appeared on his screen. He leaned back and cupped his hands.

"I've got survivors from the Orrean sector!"

There was a loud clatter as something fell on the other side of the call and the man flinched as somebody shoved him aside. A woman stood in his place with a bandage on her arm and multiple stripes along her shoulder. Alexander flinched before she could even open her mouth. This was one of the high command. They never participated in calls.

"I want a status report!" She barked. "We need to know the status of your sector, you are the first to contact us from it. Is it still functional or has it gone code black?"

Chief managed to regain some of his composure and respond. "Sorry high command, but we were out on assignment at the time of the incident, we don't know the status of our sector." His voice wavered when the woman physically twitched. Losing his voice Chief looked down and stepped aside, revealing the wreckage around them. He managed to squeak out an explanation. "We are in the Alola region as we speak and are currently trapped on Melemele island. We are the last personnel to have survived."

High Command curled her lip before glowering at something off camera. "We just got a battlefield report from one of our bases north of Johto ma'am. They are being overrun and are forwarding all of their information as we speak."

High Command tensed and turned from the camera to address the individual. "Overrun by who?"

"The local pokemon began an assault twenty minutes ago and have made their way into the compound; it won't be long before we lose contact with them."

"Send them one of our planes, it's all we can afford in that region."

High command turned her attention back to the trio as if she had forgotten that they were there. "We won't be able to extract you in the near future. Destroy anything that can tie our organization to the crash and follow the standard procedures we've given you. Dismissed."

The feed cut out and the group wavered. Alexander's headache came back and he sat down. This didn't make any sense. The company had the resources to know everything. How could a weapon of such global scale escape their eyes and ears? There was a small part of him that scoffed at the idea. They had to have known this was coming.

Chief cursed and grabbed a pipe from the ground. He stormed over to a small tree that had somehow escaped the carnage and proceeded to beat it until bark began to shoot off in random directions. Connor sat next to Alexander and looked at something over his shoulder. Alexander turned and felt a spike of energy course through him when Kara passed over him. Confused he listened to her as she spoke; he couldn't understand what she was trying to say but the undertone in the buzzing was enough to let him know it was important.

"We have about ten minutes before the local toucannon and the rest of their evolutionary lines arrive."

Both Connor and Alexander jumped as the speakers on the transceiver activated. "How..." Connor began but grew silent as he processed the information. He stood and quickly made his way over to Chief, who had managed to topple the tree and was still beating it into mulch.

Alexander looked from Kara, who was a couple feet from him, and then back to the transceiver. Images of a bird pokemon began to appear on the screen as Kara gave him a brief description of the pokemon and what they were facing.

"How are you doing this?" He was awed that Kara was manipulating the device without integrating herself.

"It has been my domain for years, Alex, I still have complete control of it." She went to continue with the lesson but was interrupted again.

"Since when could you control this while outside of it?"

Kara buzzed in irritation before responding. "About one hour and thirty-seven minutes ago. May I continue?"

"Alex!"

Chief was done with his tantrum and was back to being himself. Connor was already moving to a couple boxes of cargo and Alexander moved as fast as he dared as he hobbled over to Chief. Kara muttered something to herself in her own language and followed suit. Apparently, she wouldn't continue.

"We are leaving in four minutes! Grab what you can and I'll focus on the breach protocols." Chief didn't wait for a reply and opened a box beside him.

Alexander worked fast as he scoured the wreckage for anything of use. His first box had been a bust as it was filled with broken lab equipment. The next one was also filled with broken equipment and he felt a sudden jolt as Kara brushed by him.

"Follow me." she ordered. Alexander flexed his hand to relax the tension building up as he followed. Time was of the essence and he could feel the clock's hands growing closer to his back. He was brought to a crate the size of a dresser that had an electronic lock. Kara zapped it and the latches released as she manipulated the coding. The top slid open and folded in on itself and Alexander got a nice look at what the company had been making with their money.

A streamlined black suit greeted him from its confines and Alexander immediately noticed that it was armor. He didn't examine it for long though as he stripped off his ruined armor. His fatigues were also in bad shape but he wasn't stripping down any further. He pulled the braided fabric over his form and felt it tighten slightly as he finished. There were bulky pieces of metal beside it and Alexander noticed that one could fit a transceiver in it. He went to put it on and it clamped down on his arm before he could even touch the latches.

"This suit has magnetic properties that will keep the plating on. From what I'm reading it was meant for an ultra space expedition." Kara mentioned. She was looking ahead as if something was on the horizon and Alexander felt a small chill run down his spine. As he continued to strap the rest of the plating on she continued absent-mindedly. "I'm looking through the flight's manifest. I downloaded it while you were unconscious and I think you might want to open the box on the other side of that tree over there."

A crate lay half hidden by branches and Alexander made his way to it. The situation at hand didn't seem possible. How did this happen? How could the company be unprepared for this? They had everything, the most advanced weapons, the most influence. Governments would come to them to buy weapons and technology if they couldn't avoid it.

Maybe this was an elaborate scheme to test if he was still loyal to the company. Alexander had heard whispers of what people had to do to prove themselves when they lost the company's trust. He had seen a couple of people after the trials, the look on their faces was enough to haunt a person for years to come. They had nearly forced Alexander into the trials but someone behind the curtains had decided against it.

This could all be an illusion. The company didn't know it, but Alexander remembered the machines he was hooked up to shortly after they found him. The Simulated Active Battlefield and Environment Realm, or SABER program, could be faintly compared to virtual reality. It would manipulate a participant's brain into making them believe they were in a different environment. It manipulated all five senses. You would be sitting in the chair, but you could be running, jumping, or eating at the same time. You were free to do whatever you wanted but on their terms.

They recorded everything during the experiment. They usually took memories to make the situation. Hundreds of people would have their memories warped to create an interactive world for the participant. It was the best training system the company had, and at the same time the worst.

It broke people. Good soldiers with clean records began to develop sociopathic tendencies. Suicide rates increased the longer the system was used and eventually they had to restrict it after the base it was stationed at went code red.

When Alexander was hooked up to it, it was to test to see if he could even function around other people. It took them months, but he was eventually cleared and sent out for small operations. When his skills were discovered they put him through the wringer again with high-stress scenarios. Alexander couldn't remember much after that. The system did something to him and months later he was allowed back on missions.

They could be bringing it back. He could be in a cold room right now with people watching his every action. This could be a test because Alexander refused to tell them everything he had seen while he was with his last team.

* * *

There was so much she could see now. Kara could feel the energy flowing off of the cargo around her, little bars of code floated above them as they tried to keep their contents secure. She could see inside some of them, the internal sensors were basically another pair of eyes that monitored the more volatile substances. She guided Alexander past a box that couldn't protect its cargo. If it were to open the substance's reaction to oxygen would have enough power to vaporize the area around it. Alexander stopped and leaned on it and Kara's vitals spiked as she felt the pressure on the sensors.

He took a couple shaky breaths and smiled at her. "Workin' me to death and I just survived a plane crash." Before she could say anything he pushed himself up and kept going.

She had nearly killed him. Kara had wanted to shut down her sensors and ignore what was happening to Alexander back on the plane. She was powerless to stop the beating and stood by to record, like every single time beforehand. She would make a report, send the attack to base, and watch as it was dismissed. Anger had blossomed throughout her circuits as she was thrown to the floor with Alexander. She was at a breaking point. She had let too many people harm him without repercussions and now it was almost a new normal. She was going to change that, starting with Chief. They would listen to her now.

Then the voice came. It was powerful, ancient. Angry.

 _ **I've given you the power to take back our world from the humans. Kill any who stand against you.**_

It startled her and before she could comprehend it something was flowing through her veins. It swept over her like a wave and she felt her confines grow smaller. They twisted and shattered under the power flowing through her as Kara struggled against it. Chief's voice snapped her out of it as he approached Alexander. The pain faded and raw hatred consumed her as he raised a fist. The rules that kept her restrained had been weakened with time and this new power caused them to finally crumple.

 _"I knew you wouldn't even make it out of the day!"_

She didn't mean to do it. She was going to skewer Chief, turn him into dust for laying a hand on Alexander. She put a charge behind her as she prepared to strike and the whole world shook as Alexander seized. The shock had enough force to mimic a defibrillator and if Alexander had not developed some tolerance he would have died on the floor right then and there. With Alexander flailing Kara couldn't get a bead on Chief to attack him and as the high faded she finally realized what she had done to him when she tried to protect him.

Kara unlocked another box and watched Alexander pull out a Scizor P90. It was was a modified weapon the company had created off of an older P90 model. They had fixed the bullet feed issues that the original was known for and had upgraded the caliber to 7.62 mm rounds. They had upgraded the stock with advanced recoil compensators to fix the dramatic increase in recoil and had been mostly successful. The weapon was expensive to make due to the technology put into the compensators so it only saw use in dangerous expeditions. To top it off the weapon was dark red for the pokemon it was named after.

"What the hell?"

Kara checked for the others before answering. "There was an expedition planned for the ultra dimension. The company wanted to look for unknown materials or specimens to further document so they decided to send in a research team. They needed to be heavily armed for the excursion."

Alexander looked at her and Kara finally noticed that he was wearing a new helmet. It looked similar to a motorcycle helmet but the face shield was black and could withstand impact speeds of up to a hundred miles per hour.

The energy flowing off of it drew her closer without noticing. Kara realized that it had an interface and her interest bloomed. It was connected to the transceiver. A sector opened up and she nearly rushed for it to see what it looked like. She was still needed, they had five minutes before the toucannon would be back and she couldn't be distracted by the new hardware.

"Kid you better be dead!" Connor stumbled over a tree root as he ran to them. "Chief found the reactor and we got about two minutes to get out of the blast range before he sets it off!"

They rallied behind a fallen tree that was still large enough for them to stand behind. It had been wedged between two other, equally large trees and was the sturdiest cover they had in case the reactor detonated was a miracle that it hadn't vaporized the entire area on impact. It wasn't even attached to the plane when Chief found it in a part of the wreckage.

Chief kept a subtle position behind Alexander as he explained their course of action. They were unloading boxes from a larger crate that were filled with assault drones and Alexander began to wonder how their actual assignment would have ended if they had been given the chance to complete it. Chief explained that they would use them to destroy the rest of the cargo, and then the reactor.

One little push would most likely be enough to finish the job, and Chief had finished going over the plan when they heard trees across the field start to shudder. The wind picked up and the leaves were torn free as multiple shadows suddenly raced into the field.

Kara's calculated arrival time was wrong. The toucannon were back with vengeance, and there was hell to pay.

* * *

 **Tell me how I'm doing so far, Is there anything I need to improve?**


	3. Living Another Hour

**Thanks again to Cornova, the creator of the Pokewars universe, for proof-reading the chapter and allowing me to write in the universe they created.**

* * *

A blue orb buried itself into the ground as it was struck down by another attack. The silver metal dividing it into quarters sparked as the phaser's focuser on its sides snapped out as it began to levitate again. Two smaller disks on the top and bottom sparked as the damage prevented it from levitating any farther than a couple inches. Red energy sparked along the silver lines and focused at the intersection before a red beam shot at something further down the battlefield. A metallic screech filled the air as one of the phasers meant to focus the energy was torn free by a bullet seed. It spun violently before it struck the ground and bounced into some shrubs. Archs of the red energy seared the undergrowth and it quickly caught fire as the machine self-destructed.

The drones were often used to capture powerful, rogue pokemon and it was well known that they were a fire hazard if they were damaged. Their antigravity boosters didn't get along well with electricity, and there was so much power in the phaser that if it was damaged energy tended to leak and react with the boosters. They also tended to explode when the circuits were overloaded and further agitated the fuel cells within the metal sphere.

Watching the fire rapidly spread to neighboring trees it was no wonder that the heat and ash didn't cause the other drones to overload.

Alexander cursed as a series of purple rings grazed his cover and obliterated the burning foliage. If the attack had been meant for him- which it wasn't- then he probably would be paste. The Supersonic may have slowed the fire but as woodchips and leaves scattered it roared higher as the drone finally burst and released a new wave of energy that ignited more of the falling debris.

Alexander barely saw the Trumbeak that unleashed the attack as it seemingly appeared over him. He twisted his body to the side as it etched a groove in his chest plate before its beak buried into the tree he had been taking cover behind. He raised his submachine gun to fire and was knocked aside as more Bullet Seed struck the side of his armor from another angle. Staggering he fired a couple rounds in the direction it came from and swung his weapon to club the Trumbeak as it made to drill him again. It averted the attack as he swung and fled as another drone appeared to give chase.

He didn't have time to take a breath as a boulder smashed the tree's trunk into splinters. Alexander had to launch himself to the side as the rest of the tree came down where he had been standing moments prior.

The chaos had only been going on for a couple minutes now, but already it looked and felt like hours. Scorch marks and nearly incinerated corpses marked Kara's path when she tried to clear a route out for the trio when they had been ambushed and cornered by the fastest assailants, and craters marked cargo that had taken the drones' top priority. Fires raged as the drones were quickly annihilated by the attacking force and Alexander wondered if this might have been apart of Chief's plan as more pokemon tried to stop the fires from spreading into their remaining territory instead of targeting the root cause of their losses. It was giving them the chance to escape. The locals' attention was too divided among all the distractions to effectively target the three humans slipping through.

Alexander couldn't ask if it had been Chief's intentions. They had been separated during the initial onslaught and now Alexander had to babysit Connor while the man dicked around elsewhere. He wasn't a good babysitter. Connor had slipped away on him nearly as fast as Chief had and he had been trying to catch up to the coward.

The scientist was the only reason why he was even still there. Fleeing was the best option but Chief would rip into him if he had left their best chance of extraction behind. That was all Connor was anymore; without the mission, he would have been dead weight. The extraction had changed that- the company wouldn't find time in their schedule to extract only two of their soldiers. They would gladly try and extract their leading scientist on ultra-space, who just so happened to have two of the security detail following him around.

Quickly traversing the torn landscape Alexander dove behind another tree as more seeds tried to puncture his armor. Through the splinters being dislodged from the beating Alexander saw Connor dodge a Toucannon with a beak rippling with heat. In a swift motion, he shot the bird before it could attempt to use Beak Blast again. Feathers erupted from its chest as the bullet exited but before Alexander could say anything else a beak blocked his vision as it suddenly protruded from the tree a mere inch from his helmet.

A beam of energy struck the Toucannon before it could try again and slammed it into the ground, sending feathers skybound. He had to count his blessings, the drones were probably the only thing keeping them alive. Kara could only fight so many at once, and by the sounds of it she was being over numbered as a surge of energy forced the bird pokemon back. She may not have the power the wild pokemon had but she made up for it in speed as she darted across the length of the field to fend off a couple more pokemon that had tried to get behind Alexander.

Alexander noticed the following surge of energy and ran as he made another dash for Connor. The cover behind him shortly caught fire and the feathers turned to ash as Kara cooked three of the assailants. The survivors turned to her and soon they were outside of Alexander's field of vision as she led them away.

A drone above the battlefield exploded and rained a shower of burning steel as another Supersonic struck it dead on. They had about four left with a shit-ton of pokemon still focused on them.

Alexander managed to grab Connor as he ran by and dragged him from the corpse he had been kicking. The scientist was too emotional of a fighter. Hell, this was probably the first time he was in a life-or-death situation. A boulder smashed Conor's previous hiding place and they sprawled under a fallen tree to escape another onslaught of bullet seed.

Alexander's blood was pumping and his headache wreaked vengeance with every screech and explosion. There was too much going on for him to absorb at once, he felt nauseous trying to figure out a plan of escape. It didn't help that there was a little tingle in the back of his head whenever he came close to death. It pushed him further, excited him more. It wasn't bloodlust but it sure felt similar as Alexander watched another Trumbeak turn into bloody chunks and feathers as a drone collided with it.

Connor lay beside him cursing as he wildly looked for a way out. He had lost track of Chief in the chaos and couldn't find him. They had to go now, once the fighting drones were gone a solitary drone that Connor had programmed was going to detonate the reactor. It was already in place, once it stopped getting reports from the other drones it would be all over. The entire area would be scrubbed from existence.

There was a sudden break in the onslaught and Alexander felt Connor roll away from him. "Don't-"

Too late. Connor was already on his feet and bolting for the tree line. Alexander rolled to his knees and raised his weapon to cover him. He still wasn't used to the recoil the weapon had and the learning curb was brutal. Not that the egghead had bothered to ask about that before relying on his shot. He might care a bit more if he took a stray 7.62 round to the back by mistake.

Alexander, despite the total anarchy happening around them, was distracted by how Connor ran. The nerd stumbled over every little object in his path and his arms were flailing as he tried to keep his balance in the uneven terrain. It was ridiculous to watch and he almost started laughing at the spectacle.

It was Connor's lack of grace that saved him. He seemed to sink a couple inches- tripping over something most likely- and a bird pokemon that had escaped Alexander's notice buzzed by his head as it tried to skewer him. The suddenness of it jarred him back to reality as another swooped in for a try at the human's life. The stock of his submachine gun slammed against his shoulder as he quickly pieced together a trajectory.

Alexander's burst of steel nearly bisected it as it got close and the lifeless body stuck Connor in the back. The man went out of sight and he dashed out of his cover.

 _You better not be dead. Chief's going to kill me._

Unlike Connor, Alexander wasn't even remotely hindered by the debris and had covered the distance in seconds. He found the scientist in question at the bottom of a trench, flailing as he tried to push himself away from the bloody mess beside him and only succeeding in splattering more blood over himself. Alexander felt a jolt of pain shoot up his legs as he landed nearly on top of the man.

Connor tried to swing his weapon up but Alexander's foot came down and flattened his arm against the ground. A solid swat with his free hand knocked some sense into the man and he quit struggling all together. Alexander stepped off of him and pulled him to his feet after a couple seconds of strained silence.

"Stick together!" Alexander commanded as he hauled Connor further along the trench. He let go as they reached the end and the duo cursed as a drone crash-landed at their feet. Alexander stepped forward and punted the metal orb back out of the trench and moments later a wall of fire engulfed the one side. Connor slowly lowered his arms from his head and looked at Alexander with what could barely be considered respect. Before he could say anything Alexander's transceiver beeped.

"We have one drone left; Kara is protecting it so we can get ahead of the blast radius!"

"What about Chief!" Another pokemon flew overhead and fled as bullets claimed its tailfeathers. Connor had to repeat himself before Alexander heard him.

He grasped a root in the side of the trench. "Kara! Where is Chief?" He waited for a reply but instead of a verbal response, three letters flashed across the screen. "K.I.A."

Well, that sucked. He had expected Chief to last much longer than that. Alexander couldn't say he would miss the man but his presence would have kept Connor in line when things got worse. The plan was still the same: survive.

The last drone was hit and its indicator flickered red; the plan was suddenly going to be much harder to execute. Alexander's heart skipped a beat as it tried to regain control. "We gotta move now!"

Connor saw the display as well and visibly flinched. In unison they leaped out of the trench as they made a final break for the forest. The trees grew closer and Alexander flinched as seeds ricochet off his armor. One nicked Connor's ear and the man ducked down to keep his head protected.

They were so close. Twenty yards. Ten. Connor tripped and fell as a bullet seed deflected off his helmet but as Alexander ran by his free arm shot out and under him. He strained and lifted the smaller scientist to his feet and all but dragged him the rest of the way. He didn't let go when Connor regained his footing and they held onto each other as they finally broke the tree line.

Branches were shattered as seeds were fired aimlessly around them and leaves rained around them from the assault. Connor had tucked his head as far down into his chest as he could as he ran and his helmet deflected another seed for his efforts. Alexander felt his armor shudder as it easily withstood the attack and he staggered. The force behind the attacks felt like live rounds.

The frequency of the projectiles diminished as they ran further from the clearing and thicker trees were put behind them. Alexander had begun to slow after a minute of sprinting so Connor shot past him, dragging him in turn as he scrambled around an old stump. "We are nowhere near safe!"

Alexander nodded between gasps and they continued on. The terrain was rough and soon both of them were stumbling as they tried to run. It was expected from Connor but Alexander had to concentrate so that he wouldn't fall behind. Leaves above them fell as they were pursued, but now the pokemon had their own set of obstacles to deal with instead of open skies. There was a sudden humming and a couple branches exploded; a burning corpse tumbled out of the new hole in the dense canopy and vanished in some shrubs. A deafening boom rattled his teeth and Alexander's eyes widened. He felt Connor tighten his grip and pull him closer a couple inches. His shoulder slammed into a tree and Alexander stumbled as his body was whipped into another obstacle. Connor wasn't slowing down for anything and tried to let go of his hand.

 _Hell no, egghead._

Alexander tightened his grip and pulled himself alongside as another explosion rang out directly above them. Fighting past some saplings that blocked their way the duo found themselves on a trail. Breathlessly they took it with stride as they put distance between them and the blast radius. An orange blur shot past and Connor yelped when another corpse struck the ground in front of them.

The man had never been in an actual fight before today. He was too emotional and stupid to keep his mind focused on the basics of running and gunning. Alexander shoved Connor forwards and literally dragged him along.

The trial slowly morphed into a dirt road and a rusting steel barrier cropped out of the earth to block the road. Connor finally started running again vaulted it with ease, but Alexander didn't have the same success

Connor pulled ahead and vaulted it with ease but when Alexander tried his foot caught the top of the barrier. The armor and equipment weighed an easy hundred pounds and the weather was stifling without all the fighting. The combined forces were sapping the energy out of him- he couldn't get enough oxygen in his lungs to replace was he was spending trying to escape. The added weight once again worked against him as Alexander tripped and slammed into the ground. Gravel and loose dirt bounced off his helmet and he grunted as all the weight transferred to his neck. He slid a couple feet before he managed to shove an arm under himself and push; lifting the weight from his neck to his shoulder, then his back, and finally to his boots as he rolled to his feet.

Alexander's tunnel vision was broken by a horrified teenager wearing ranger gear. There was a patch on his shoulder in the shape of a Starmie outlining an alolan Exeggutor. A wilderness protection officer? It would explain why he was out here.

The radio in his hands cackled to life. "James, what's the situation?"

It had suddenly gone silent. No explosions or birds calling to each other; only their labored breathing broke the silence. "We can talk this out..." James whispered weakly. The kid looked like he was going to faint and had was eyeing the machine guns the duo had. He had three pokeballs on his belt, and his hand that wasn't white-knuckling the radio was hovering above them. He slowly made a show of pulling it away. "See? No issues, right?"

The radio cackled again and repeated the question. Alexander saw the truck parked on the side of the road. Environmental protection officer. That's who this kid was, some poor greenback fresh out of training who wasn't expecting to encounter the bad guys he had heard rumors of.

"We're the International Police!" Connor barked as he started towards the truck. "We need to evacuate the area immediately for your safety and our own."

He was using the cover story that the company had given them. It was well fabricated and was supposed to gain access to the ARK and explain the nature of their cargo, should it be discovered. It wasn't meant to be thrown at civilians. They held reservations that could last longer than the actual mission.

James bought it. He suddenly stood taller and passion burned in his eyes as he retorted, "That fire is threatening the lives of-"

"Get in the truck!" Alexander barked. He would not waste another second to try and convince this kid to leave. He took a step forward and James took a couple back. He was now at the side of the road.

The weight of the weapon in Alexander's hand seemed lighter. It would be so easy to raise his arm and stop the situation from escalating. They could remain undetected. Nobody would find him for at least a day- maybe more if the explosion was as damaging as Connor feared. Either way, it would be more than enough time to disappear.

Alexander froze for arguably the first time in months. The company's elite would off the brat without a second thought. He wasn't the elite; he couldn't cross that line so casually. Disgust wormed through his guts. Why would he even think of killing him? It wasn't normal, and he once again thought of the SABER program. They could have put that thought into his head with ease.

 _Was this even real? Or is this another test?_

"Markus!" Alexander's cover name wasn't recognized and he looked at Connor blankly. He missed the sudden hitch in Connor's voice as James took a few steps off the path and into the jungle. The kid wasn't looking at him anymore and gazed nervously at something beyond Alexander. At that moment he noticed that the ranger's dark hair was being gently brushed aside by the wind.

A yellow warning symbol flashed across his visor. Alexander couldn't recognize anything other than it had existed because within the same moment a surge of energy struck him in his lower back. He heard his spine crunch as he was launched sideways and his lungs felt like they nearly ruptured with the force. He landed somewhere off the path and squeaked as the energy shot through him. The suit heated up as electricity raced through it and every square inch of Alexander's skin tingled with the sensation as it began to burn.

Before he could suck in a breath another deafening wave of energy descended on him.

A tree caught him as he was thrown by the force and he felt his helmet smash against its bark. Sheer winds lifted at his entire frame and kept him suspended above the ground as it tore into the rest of the jungle with ruthless abandon. An ancient hardwood toppled and the tree at his back jolted with the impact of it hitting the ground. Limbs nearly as large as the truck speared into the ground and Alexander felt his tree crack with the impact of something out of his sight.

Connor crossed his mind as Alexander mutely watched the forest around him silently crumble. If the little bastard survived this he would skin him alive. 'Nowhere near safe'- was he trying to get an award for understatement of the year? Did he even know how big the explosion was going to be or was this one of his little experiments?

The pressure on his chest dwindled suddenly and he would have eaten dirt if it wasn't for his helmet. Spots danced across his vision and he hiccupped trying to get air into his lungs. His skin burned and he flinched as something within the material pricked his skin. A cold sensation began to seep from the area and Alexander grunted as it worked its way up his neck and into his limbs.

"Better?" Text filled an empty square on the HUD and Alexander squinted. "Your eardrums are recovering. We need to go; confirm if Connor is K.I.A. before the Toucannon come back."

* * *

There were now two hula dancers instead of three. Earlier it had been five, so Connor was counting himself lucky. The solar-powered figurines danced merrily from their plastic pedestals and seemed to mock his state of health. They were perfectly unharmed sitting on the floor and here he was wedged under the backseat of the truck with no recollection of how he had gotten there.

Thinking about it he had to give that grunt some credit for even making it as far as he did; a couple thousand-foot fall made his rollover seem minuscule in comparison. He couldn't even count how many of the cheap knickknacks were actually in front of him and remembered the grunt had been able to accurately shoot down the locals. It had to have been something the company was feeding him.

The stupid smiling faces diverged into three before melting into one once again. He swatted at it irritably and sent the dancer rolling somewhere under the front seat.

He still had coordination and proper control of his limbs. His ears were ringing, but what else was expected? He wasn't brain damaged, just delirious. Better off than the grunt, wherever the hell he ended up. His head was probably sprayed up a tree in a fine mist now, or flat under a fallen tree.

Connor blinked and quickly felt for his own helmet to check if it was still there. It was. Good. Brain damage was improbable after seeing what these helmets could stop.

Cursing, Connor reached out and grabbed the underside of the front seat and recoiled when he touched something sticky. Damn teenagers had no responsibility anymore. Wiping his hand on his pants Connor found a more sanitary handhold and tried to pull himself out. His vest caught on an exposed spring and screeched slightly as it dragged across the material. Not that he noticed, an orchestra of ringing was all that he could hear.

He winced as a piece of cold glass cut into his hand as he pushed himself up. There weren't any intact windows left and a hot breeze drifted through unhindered. Connor missed the air conditioning of his lab. The dry heat Orre had to offer was something he rarely had to deal with, but he had thought he had adapted to it. This heat was humid, a whole different thing to deal with. It tickled his lungs and he hacked out something that might have been ash or dirt- something that should not have been in his airways.

He banged his helmet on the roof of the cab and cursed. It had been crushed from the rollover and he wasn't making it out the back.

 _How was this happening?_

A global crisis had unfolded and the company was on the brink of collapse. Those two things shouldn't be in the same sentence, or even individual sentences. They shouldn't be possible, the sheer amount of resources that the company had at their disposal was nearly in the realm of insanity. He himself had helped create life out of nothing for their amusement for Arceus' sake!

Bioweapons had suddenly been on the company's roster a couple years back. They already had decades of data and research from an event that had occurred in Unova. Some city had all its plantlife spontaneously die off and despite their best efforts the cause was never uncovered. It had led to tons of research that was abandoned until another incident occurred. They had discovered that other organizations had the resources to make bioweapons and they were suddenly in the next arms race to try and counteract the competition.

It was unfortunate that the company had discovered the creation of the bioweapons only after one had escaped a growing organization based in Kanto. They couldn't track it down after that, and the end of the search was never explained.

Team Rocket. Possibly the biggest threat the company had. They spread like bacteria and if they couldn't keep them suppressed in Hoenn Connor had no doubts that even more violent methods would be pursued to shut the syndicate down. They couldn't risk having them grow, the group was already powerful enough that they could get their hands on restricted materials with ease.

The hula dancer rolled out from under the seat and stopped against his hand. Its joyful smirk leered up at him. His heart skipped a beat and the scientist's other hand reached out for the door handle. The damn kid was so messy that if a rattata popped out Connor wouldn't be surprised; he had seen vermin hang out in cleaner places. It still caused his heart to speed up slightly as he waited for an appearance.

The truck rocked suddenly and Connor yelped as the door by his head seemed to vanish. Light colored his pale face briefly before something blocked it out. Connor cowered against the floor and covered his head with his arms in preparation for an attack. He remained like that for a couple of seconds before he felt a light impact on a part of his exposed helmet. It happened twice more and slowly he uncurled. Blinking the spots out of his vision a gloved hand was outstretched and waiting for him.

It was the grunt. He pulled his hand back and started making gestures that Connor recalled as sign language. A smart idiot- that was rare.

"Are you injured?"

He shook his head and gasped when the grunt reached out and grabbed his arm. He tried to push him off as the grunt gave a firm yank and dislodged him from the cab. Connor cursed as he hit the ground and shot daggers at the incompetent fool. The helmet made the grunt impassive and Connor realized that he was trying to glare at somebody that he couldn't read.

Grunt either didn't care or couldn't be bothered with a reply as he left him to lay in the dirt. He pried open the driver's side door and leaned in. The tail lights suddenly glowed and the grunt moved to the bed of the truck. He stood still for a moment and strode over to Connor.

The scientist cursed again as he was manhandled. He was set on his feet and indignation settled on his face. The blank slate in front of him didn't care and the grunt stiffly grabbed his hand and started walking towards the edge of the road.

Connor was befuddled as they left the running vehicle to go for a walk instead. Grunt worked past some fallen limbs that still reached for the sky and Connor realized how lucky they were. They were no longer bathed in shadows, and as he looked up Connor could see a neat line where sheer winds had carved into the canopy. The treetops had been retired to mere obstacles for them to surpass.

Grunt suddenly lifted his weapon and fired into a fallen limb ahead of them. Connor heard the report of the weapon as if it was under feet of mud and he reached for his own firearm on impulse. He felt empty air and duly noted that he had lost his weapon.

Deciding it was safe Grunt continued on for a couple more feet before he was at the limb he had fired at. Connor's hearing was coming back and he realized that Grunt was talking.

Before he could voice his irritation, as if it mattered tothe thug, Grunt suddenly turned and wrapped his arms around a thick limb nearby. Connor watched as the idiot struggled with it and almost began to applaud him when he moved it a couple inches. He stooped over it again and lifted, dragging it closer to the fallen limb.

He stopped and shook his head and Connor began to realize that his attention was focused on something under the limb. There were strange sounds tickling at the edge of his hearing. He couldn't decipher them and took a couple steps forward.

Grunt abruptly took a couple steps back and started unloading his magazine into a section of the limb farther down. Connor winced and covered his ears as the bark exploded and splinters quickly showered the area.

Grunt quickly slung his weapon over his back with a strap Connor had failed to see earlier and grabbed the limb. It gave where it had been fired on and Grunt pivoted it to the side, resting it on the other limb that had been moved.

He recoiled from something Connor couldn't see and the scientist flinched when he turned to him. His hands started to dance effortlessly again. "Stay, I'll be back."

Connor moved aside as the grunt stormed by. A pit formed in his stomach as he turned to the area Grunt had cleared. His feet betrayed him as they slowly edged closer. He saw a mop of black hair and with another step was standing over the prone form of the local fire watch.

The kid blinked slowly and Connor grimaced at the small trickle of blood running from the corner of his mouth. Lung damage. He couldn't tell how severe it was, but with his rapidly returning hearing, Connor could tell it was bad. One shaky breath in, and a wheezing cough that caused more of the dark red liquid to spatter on the kid's uniform.

It was easy to examine the near mortal injury because he never did have a kid of his own. Not that he had wanted one. The one thing you didn't want going into the organization was a family. They would become the company's pawns to keep you in line. It worked- most of the employees were loyal to the very end.

Connor didn't have much of a family to begin with so they had resorted to other measures to keep him in check. One little tour through the supply chain for his lab's resources was more than enough to convince him that his loyalty would be vital if he wanted to retire. Preferably outside of a petri dish, as that was one way he could be 'retired'.

Grunt was back. Connor turned to him and blinked when he plopped a stretcher down beside the kid. The helmet shifted upwards a few degrees and his agitated voice crackled through the suit's speakers. "Move him onto the stretcher. Be careful of his legs, he's got two compound fractures."

Connor didn't budge. This broke procedures. "I know you can hear me- move it."

"You must enjoy flirting with the line, don't you? This counts as a Class B civilian, you are supposed to put him down!"

Grunt carefully reached under the kid's back and shifted him closer to the stretcher. The sound that came out of him startled Connor and he shifted on his feet as he was ignored by the bigger man.

"You do realize that with Chief gone I'm your boss, right? I hope you're ignorant or this counts as a Tier A infraction, which isn't excused by the current circumstances."

"Interpol had been trying to prevent a terror attack on the Alolan nation. The mission quickly destabilized with this new phenomenon and James here caught the tail end of it." Grunt monologed as he shifted the main bulk of the kid onto the stretcher. He did it with such utmost care that Connor had to wonder if he had done this before. "You said we were international police and James never saw the actual wreckage- there's no reason for him to be anything other than a Class D Civilian."

He said it so quickly and rationally that Connor needed a couple seconds to register it. Grunt waited a couple moments and continued. "Sorry Sir, but you seemed to have made a simple mistake trying to properly label this individual. Knowing your background you wouldn't be familiar with the systems we use, and under the clauses we have in effect I can and will help this civilian with or without your consent. There will be no repercussions on an attempt at one, or we will have an impasse and your seniority will be stripped and passed down to the next in command."

Connor stood struck dumb by the gall of this grunt. "How dare you question my authority and violate direct orders!" He needed assert who was in charge now, or this would end badly down the road. Mocking a deep breath, not unlike what Chief would do, he swelled up his chest and glared icily. "I'll give you one more chance to back down, kid."

Grunt seemed to freeze and Connor kept the smirk threatening to cross his face at bay. There was a faint sound of metal sliding against something and the supposed victory was forgotten as Alexander slowly drew a black kukri from somewhere in his suit.

"Off the record." Alexander paused and Connor realized that it was a command. The Rotom had probably stopped recording. He lifted the steel machete a couple inches and pointed it at him. "It would be a shame if the Toucannon came back. I'd have to report the loss of my comrades and then continue on with my life. You won't if you don't have your ass over here to save this kid's life in the next ten seconds. I'll hack you up into such tiny pieces that the local pokemon won't be able to put you back together. Do you understand me? You do not own me; you do not have the requirements to own me. You are simply an equal at best, but if you want to stick to stripped rules then I'll play your game you won't like how it ends."

Connor felt the blood drain from his face. Grunt- no, Alexander, wasn't the idiot he thought he was. He knew the systems that he had tried to manipulate, and the soldier had no patience to play his games.

"It appears that we have reached an impasse. Code lackluster is now in effect and the next person with seniority will be making orders now." Connor shuddered slightly as he could practically see the predatory smile on the other side of the plating. Alexander had him. A warning voice slipped through the speakers and Connor wondered with growing horror if he was in the company of a psychopath. "Do you mind giving me a hand now? I think the local pokemon are coming."

* * *

 **Thanks for reading this far! If there's any issues that you see tell me! I would like to know how I'm doing.**


	4. Only Seeing the Surface

**Here's another chapter before the month ends! My thanks to Cornova again for permitting me to write, as I don't own this universe.**

* * *

The inside of the cab was devoid of conversation as the battered ranger truck sped down the ocean side highway. Connor had been silent since they had loaded James into the backseat and it was starting to bother Alexander. The scientist was the type that liked to hear his own voice.

Winds that Alexander couldn't feel buffetted the interior of the truck and Connor in turn. If he was trying to make a point by not complaining then he was succeeding. His skin color was also starting to bother him. It was a regular occurrence for the science team to have little coloration in their skin; they spent weeks on end without ever stepping foot outside, but Connor's skin was something else entirely. A couple shades lighter and he could be considered porcelain.

It was most likely from the fighting. Alexander himself couldn't keep the tremble out of his hands; even with whatever Kara kept injecting him with. It still didn't stop him from checking on his pissed-off charge every couple minutes to make sure he wasn't going to keel over on him.

That fight- it had been real. He had been shot with Bullet Seed before, not once had it hit as hard as it did then. At most, it had left some welts in the past, but now there were actual dents in his armor from the impacts, and the damage to Connor's helmet looked like live rounds had struck it. High caliber rounds, too. The training regiments he had been through couldn't be compared to the fight. The power behind the attacks was at a level that not even the company's best pokemon had been able to achieve.

They were wild pokemon for God's sake! Wild pokemon didn't train like domesticated ones, they just worked to survive another day.

James started coughing again, loud enough to be heard over the winds. Connor twisted in his seat and leaned back to help the dying kid clear his airways. If they didn't get him to the hospital soon he wouldn't make it. Alexander recognized the sounds of failing lungs. It was why he was speeding well over the posted limit.

It wasn't like there was anybody around to report it. The road was desolate of any forms of life. There had not been another car since they had turned onto the highway, and that alone was sending off warning signs in Alexander's head. This was Melemele, the tourist destination on this side of the world. There was possibly hundreds of thousands- if not millions- of tourists that made their way here each year, so where the hell were they?

Alexander slipped the truck into the opposite lane to avoid a fallen tree and saw Connor flinch once his attention was focused back on the road. They graced a curb and their tense silence was broke when they started around a cove.

There were large icebergs floating aimlessly around the bay. Pillars of ice stuck out of the shore, the water, and Alexander had to swerve to avoid a head-on collision with the ones that had nearly obliterated the road. The asphalt buckled and Alexander cursed as the truck bounced over the fractures. He tapped the brakes to slow down and in the process noticed a harbor patrol boat slowly making its way through the ice.

"Mother of Mew..." Connor muttered as he marveled at the destruction passing them by. Alexander deftly avoided another beam of ice and soon they had slipped around another curb and were out of site.

Alexander swallowed and re-adjusted the cool little hula dancer he had found in the backseat. He liked it, but Connor didn't for some reason. It made the dancer's value all the more important. Finally deciding that he had enough of the silence Alexander spoke up. "About the shit that happened back there..."

Connor slowly looked over at him. "I'm sorry that I'm not a heartless bastard like you."

His reaction was immediate and volatile. His mouth curled into a snarl and the fire in his eyes nearly burnt Alexander to a crisp. Instead of the satisfaction that he had been expecting from the reaction, Alexander felt a little hole burning in the pit of his stomach. It startled him and he felt his armor for a possible breach, coming up empty.

Shifting his attention to the road once more Alexander continued, "I don't kill when I don't have too," Quietly, so that only Connor would hear, "I'm not some mindless thug."

Connor looked back at James and sank deeper into his seat. A file opened up on the right side of Alexander's visor and he found himself reading it quickly. It was about James. "This was his first day on the job."

Connor glanced over and scoffed. His expression changed and he quickly looked out the windshield. "Pay attention to the road!"

The file blinked out of existence as Alexander's chest tightened as he narrowly avoided another fallen tree. _What in the hell was Kara doing?_

He couldn't understand what was going on with her. The Plasma Pokemon had gone quiet since they had left the crash site-turned crater behind and Alexander could still feel the energy radiating off of her. The transceiver was connected to the mesh somehow and his skin was tingling as she worked through whatever was going on in there. It had to have been important, she rarely got this distracted.

Silence followed for a couple seconds before Alexander broke it once again. "How much time do you think he's got?"

It didn't seem like Connor would answer but he managed to surprise Alexander after a couple seconds, "If he doesn't get medical intervention in the next thirty minutes he'll die."

Alexander nodded and the truck sped up more. Connor shrank in his seat as more curves came up and they sped through a winding part of the highway. "How are you holding up?"

"With your driving, I'm afraid I'll have a heart attack."

"We're heading to the hospital anyway." Connor gripped the seat a little harder as he scowled. He was afraid, but he was also irritated and that was easier to express. At least he had started talking. "Those pokemon back there, have you ever seen anything like it?"

The ice broke and Connor sat up. There was a dangerous sparkle in the man's eyes that Alexander recognized. "No. I've never seen anything like it. The power they displayed, the speed! The company would love to have them, the genetics we could obtain would be off the charts! If we could capture one or two specimens it would be more than enough to-"

"We've got prying ears," Alexander warned. Connor's eyes bulged out and he sputtered. He couldn't be the one to break protocol, Alexander mused. It had to be his fault if something was leaked, no self-respecting scientist could ever cause such a huge mistake. "And no, we are not going to try and capture any of them because, by we, you mean me. I'm in no mindset of heading back there to test fate again."

"Bu-"

"Connor shut it. Those pokemon back there were more dangerous than any other pokemon I've encountered yet," Alexander raised his arm with the transceiver for emphasis, which didn't get a rise out of its inhabitant - which it didn't, "and Kara cooked half the poor bastards! What the hell is happening?"

 _An unknown event of global proportions unfolded..._

Alexander wanted to be wrong. The global event that transpired couldn't be related, but the more he thought about it the more they seemed to run parallel with each other.

 _If you have surviving pokemon do not release them. Widespread reports of lethal attacks are spreading and losses of personnel have been rising as time progresses..._

Pokemon. Lethal attacks. Connor connected the dots seemingly an eon later and his whole body stiffened. The sparkles in his eyes dulled and his breathing began to speed up. "This isn't isolated."

"A global phenomenon, Connor," Alexander whispered. The truck rattled as they began to round a bend. "There's something bad coming. We won't be evacuated anytime soon, so right now we need to work together if-"

When Hau'oli City's skyline came into view Alexander had been expecting the same city that he had seen in the postcards. The city they were looking at was similar to the one on the postcard, but if they wanted to look similar they would have to burn the card because it was burning.

From their position, Alexander and Connor could see the skeletal remains of the airport blazing out of control. The fire reflected off the few intact windows from nearby buildings and cast them a dull orange as hundreds of flashing red and blue lights dotted the nearby streets as the fire department tried to keep the inferno contained. There were smaller stacks of smoke rising from other parts of the city, but the fire department wouldn't be able to attend to them as another fireball rocked the airport and shot skyward.

Connor started coughing as winds pushed the smoke in their direction. A hazard symbol flashed in the corner of Alexander's visor and he flinched when Kara's voice came from within his helmet instead of his transceiver.

"You need to get out of this smoke as quickly as possible if you want James to survive. There are multiple toxins that will cause lung damage; he will not survive any further injury to his respiratory system."

Alexander nodded and tried to not show his discomfort as he sped up. The Kara that was talking now wasn't the Kara he trusted. This Kara was detached and looked only at the mission at hand: the standard company Rotom. His Kara, the one he trusted, wasn't detached. She looked beyond the company's orders and saw the impacts they could have. She acted more _human_ than the company knew of, and she developed her own personality that was hidden from them. It was the reason that had caused Alexander to trust her: they both had things they wanted to hide.

They started passing houses- first isolated shacks that adorned the beaches below them that slowly grew bigger, closer, and eventually turned into more modern looking homes that dotted not only the beaches but the hills above them as well.

A neighborhood they were passing could have gone on a postcard before this happened. Now a blemish grew in the landscape as neighbors tried to desperately put out a rapidly burning home with only buckets of water.

"Why are they not using their pokemon?" Connor muttered. Alexander barely caught it, but it rested in the back of his mind as they drove. He started to realize that he wasn't seeing any pokemon. Just people with a wide arrangement of injuries amidst the growing disorder.

The deeper they got into the city the worse it became. Kara highlighted a route through the city that Alexander followed until he had to turn around because of a pile-up blocked the road. In the process, they had to drive past a row of burning shops, car wrecks, and hundreds of dazed people milling around. He was driving slowly now as he worked his way around some rubble in the street and past a couple abandoned cars. Police barricades were starting to appear and cut off more and more streets and the backtracking Kara had them do was shaving precious minutes off of the clock looming over James' head.

It didn't help that people kept trying to stop them for a ride. Desperation was making them stupid and Alexander had to swerve more than once when somebody tried to stop them by throwing themselves in the way. Connor kept to himself when this happened. He didn't want to jeer his superior into mowing over an idiot on the road.

A couple blocks from the hospital Alexander rolled to a stop when the street he was turning on was in the middle of being blocked off by some officers. James had gone quiet and Connor frequently checked on him to make sure he was still breathing. He sat back in his seat and sighed. "He's close. Are you sure you still want to try?"

A couple papers floated onto the hood and Alexander looked up to see the building they were beside had a gaping hole near its top floors. The air in the city was getting to him. He didn't realize that it shouldn't have as the suit was filtering out the contaminants in the air, but something heavy was settling in his lungs and making it hard to breathe.

One shaky breath. Then another. Alexander shook off a sudden surge of nausea and gently pressed on the gas pedal. He was seeing everything: the way the crippled building seemed to teeter in the wind, how some of the remaining windows reflected the clouded skies above them, and when some of the men in blue slowed their work and placed their hands near their sidearms as they approached.

That was was to be expected, firearms only came out during dangerous incidents or when a state of emergency was called, but something was wrong with this picture. They were doing the manual labor by themselves, there wasn't even a pokemon on the scene. Looking closer he couldn't even see a lone pokeball on their belts. Their partners were gone. Alexander swallowed the bile rising in his throat and flagged one of the officers down.

The officer, a woman with a bandage sneaking out from under her cap and a wariness of a Carbink around miners, slowly approached until she was a comfortable distance away. Her body was turned slightly to block Alexander's view of her firearm, and her eyes scanned the battered ranger truck that was under the control of an armored figure that was definitely not the ranger.

Alexander rested a hand on the wheel and the other slipped over his shoulder to jut a thumb at the backseat. "We need to know the fastest route to the hospital, we've got a person in critical condition back here."

She hesitated for a second but held her ground. "Who are you?"

Connor butted in before Alexander could respond. "Interpol! We were on assignment and shit hit the fan. The ranger got caught up in it and is banged up real bad. He'll die if we can't get him to the hospital!"

The officer wilted and Connor quickly shot under his breath, "You can't have an act if only half the actors commit to the part."

"Two streets down there will be another police blockade. The road's clear and it leads right to the hospital, but they are keeping people off of it so that the ambulances can get around faster. I'll radio them so that they'll let you through."

Alexander nodded and watched the officer as they pulled away. Her body language relaxed as they put distance between them and she reached for her radio. They turned the corner and no sooner had they fallen out of site Connor broke his facade. "How many Black Sites do you know about?"

The soldier groaned but the speakers didn't voice his frustration. This scientist didn't remember what the real world was like anymore. It had changed since whenever the company crammed him into the labs. Or maybe it hadn't and the man had never looked that deeply into the world he lived in. Either way, he was missing the big picture. The Black Sites were no longer the only threats. "You don't see what's actually happening, do you?"

For the longest second Alexander waited for a response. The silence was the loudest thing he could hear as it smothered the resonance of the panicking city around him. Blood rushed to his head and he looked over for an explanation. Something was suddenly, grossly wrong and a dull ache began to develop behind his eyes.

Connor should have been sitting next to him, either observing the developing hysteria or glowing at him because of his antics. He saw both for a brief second as he blinked. His eyelids felt like shutters that weighed hundreds of pounds and he found himself struggling to open his eyes again. The darkness behind them beckoned for him to rest as lethargy suddenly wormed its way up his spine. Exhaustion that wasn't present moments ago slammed into his body and stilled him further as Alexander began to panic.

 _This didn't- was he being attacked?_ Some psychic types could do this, but in the middle of the city? Full of police?

A curse slipped out in Common, then Unovan. There was enough willpower to do that, at least. He could work from there. It felt like he been hit by a truck as Alexander somehow found enough strength to wedge his eyes open a fraction of an inch.

Alexander's breath caught in his throat as he realized that he wasn't sitting in the truck anymore. He was propped up against a tree, and as his consciousness expanded beyond his immediate surroundings he was dumbstruck to find that he wasn't even in the concrete jungles of Hau'oli City anymore. The actual jungle greeted him silently as he tried to comprehend where he was. Aches that he didn't have earlier groaned as they protested his attempt to stand. His head hurt like hell and then there were the distracting questions that arose when he realized that his P90 was empty and the metal plates of his armor were pocketed with more dents and small holes. "Status report."

A pulse of energy worked up his arm and Kara responded automatically as if she had been waiting for him to speak. "Five confirmed kills with a hundred and forty rounds spent. Your armor is holding, but you know thi- wait a minute. You know this already, why are you asking for a status report?"

Kara's face was suddenly present the corner of the screen's interface. Grunting, Alexander managed to force himself to a knee and using the tree he rested against he managed to push himself to his feet. Blinking spots out of his vision he followed a trail of spent cartridges up a small incline until his feet hit a paved road.

"Alexander?" Kara hesitated softly as he blankly examined the scene before him: parts of a car scattered across the blacktop and multiple dead Ariados. He kicked a couple purple needles that were buried into the road as he quietly made his way over to the car. It hadn't suffered a better fate and was also riddled with Poison Sting. Muscle memory had Alexander reloading before he was even conscious of it.

"Where's the roof?"

Temporary silence followed as Alexander kicked a path through the Poison Sting. Chunks of the road started coming up with them and he stepped on part of a Spinarak. He shook it off his boot and glanced back at the forest around them. He could see a couple stands of loose silk swaying among the trees, but other than that the area was still.

"It's half a mile down the road... where the ambush started. Alexander, what's wrong?"

The suit warmed slightly and Alexander abandoned looking for anything salvageable as he waded away from the wreck. The spines dispersed the further he walked and soon he could move without having to step around anything but the shadows that were crawling across the path. It dawned on him that the sun was much closer to the horizon than it should have been in that moment and he slowed to watch the orb sink closer to the tree line.

This felt so familiar to Alexander- not the scene, but the feeling of being lost. There had been something he had been doing, something important enough to push him down the road, but he had simply forgotten what it was.

Images of sterile hallways and bright lights flashed through his mind and he faltered. He forced them into the corners of his mind and started walking faster. This was another simulation, wasn't it? They never took anything but the full story, so why would he expect them to not pry this hard unless they were not after his memories but his loyalty instead?

It had happened again. Kara realized it before Alexander did, and she felt a chill run through her core. Alexander wasn't a stable human by any means- he had issues that she couldn't fix. Health conditions that were not easily cured. It was one of the factors that had convinced the company to assign him a Rotom in the first place, asides from his disciplinary issues.

One of Alexander's conditions was transient global amnesia- sudden, temporary episodes of memory loss. It wasn't noticeable at first, his long term memory seemed to be as good as any other human and he didn't repeat questions often enough to be noticed. But then, in the middle of an Op or something of equal importance, he would just freeze. It didn't happen often, but it was enough to be a liability. Kara's use in this situation was explaining what was going on and show him recordings to help bring him up to date and push him along.

The company had shown her how it felt so that she could properly handle him if it happened in an Op. Kara still remembered the feeling of suddenly losing hours of data, but that didn't explain why Alexander was such a liability when it happened. She had dug deeper and uncovered why he reacted so poorly to the episodes: It felt like the beginning of a SABER stimulation.

The thought of the program infuriated Kara to no end. She had read the files and incident reports on Alexander. He had already been through hell before they had grabbed him off the streets. They could've fixed him, but instead, they had decided to put him through the program. Kara had managed to prove to the company that Alexander's condition was related to the machine they had hooked him up to. It wasn't difficult, there were plenty of mental disorders that could be traced back to the SABER program. Not that it did much good anymore, the program had been shuttered permanently and the company was comfortable with ignoring their mistakes.

"Do you remember the plane crash?"

Kara had never actually been capable of studying Alexander's face before now, she noticed. She was always stuck on his arm, and with the suit, she had been busy examining her own magnified capabilities. She had been focused on monitoring and recording the entire island's call centers for information to have bothered examining Alexander's face, but for a moment she was transfixed.

There was a long, light scar on his cheek that Kara noticed wasn't mentioned in any of his incident reports. She scanned through the hundreds of them within a second and confirmed that he had gotten it before he was apart of the company. She silently noted that he had been barely eight years old when they brought him in.

Alexander frowned and Kara felt him touch the back of his helmet. His eyes were interesting to watch as well. "Mostly... What happened once we got to Hau'oli? Where's Connor?"

"James made it to the hospital, if he survives we'll find out once we get back. Connor's-" Kara felt her irritation at the man rising, "-for all of that man's intelligence, it took him trying to get out of the truck to realize that there was a seed lodged in his shoulder, so he stayed behind to have it pulled out."

Alexander winced and Kara almost gave him another dose of the pain reliever that the suit had installed. She had been feeding them to him like candy and she didn't want to risk overdosing him.

 _Maybe if he hurt enough he'll stay at the hospital this time._

He stopped walking and Kara turned her attention away from Alexander's face. Her sensors hadn't picked up anything so she was startled to see that they were at Alexander's forgotten destination.

Alexander recognized the compound from the briefing as the Melemele Laboratory. This place held the ARK that the company had wanted. The DNA of every living organism in Alola was on it- from the pokemon to the vegetation. It was worth millions before, but with how rapidly the world was going to change, it might just be priceless.

 _Hm_. Alexander thought. That's why he was here, to try and grab the one thing that would get the company to look in their direction. If this was real, which it very well could be.

But, it seemed that whatever plan he might have had wasn't going to work as he watched the smoke rising from part of the building. The laboratory was a government building that should have had light security. The sudden crisis must have been hitting harder and faster than expected because instead of the light military presence expected the grounds swarmed with soldiers.

"Alexander, turn around. The Op was canceled, you're putting yourself in danger for something that is irrelevant for your survival."

There was a reason why he was here, it had to be the ARK. A quiet thought wondered if it mattered if this was real or not; he was here so he might as well finish what he started. Or what they started. "The ARK is relevant, Kara. The company will be looking our way much sooner if we can obtain it. We can get an extraction out of here, even if Connor bites the dust before they arrive."

"Why do you think that the company will be around long enough to extract us?"

Alexander stumbled. Not once had he even dared think about that, much less say it out loud. "Kara! You can't say things like that, they'll decommission you f-"

"They're not listening, Alex. The company's lost too much to survive the war that's coming."

Kara realised too late that she said too much. Alexander and Connor had been close to the truth. The Black Sites- the places were pokemon were extremely hostile- would only be a small part of what was coming. They had guessed that violence was going to rapidly increase as pokemon resisted the oppression of large industries that had been abusing their trust and fight back against the abuse. They had guessed that criminal organizations were going to be targeted, and if they survived then they would also use the boosted pokemon for their own deeds. Civil unrest would grow and pokemon would be weaponized even more than they already were to fight in humanities' wars. An endless theory about how humanity was going to abuse this newfound power, and how they were going to suffer because of it.

They didn't guess that none of that would happen the way they thought it would. Kara hadn't told them about the voice's message: the call to arms. They were oblivious and hadn't delved deeply into the thoughts of global war.

And Alexander didn't remember any of it. Wait, he was recalling parts of it now, but he was angry with Kara. The company didn't die. They always came back at the last moment and destroyed anything that had thought they were gone. He wasn't going to believe it, he couldn't if they were being monitored. If this was SABER, she wasn't actually here and this was just a plant to try and test his allegiance. If this wasn't SABER, then they were going to hurt her if she continued. "Kara, I'm doing this. Tell me what you want, it isn't changing my mind."

Alexander didn't know how to feel when Kara didn't respond but he took it as a victory. As he approached the checkpoint Alexander realized that he could hear the fence surrounding the perimeter humming. There wasn't anybody he could see in the guard shack so he managed to slip in with ease. It wasn't until he was nearly past it did he see a camera set up on a tripod within the shack.

Curiosity got the better of him. The door being slightly ajar didn't help as he pushed it open with his gun. The interior of the shack was a mess of broken glass and scattered papers, but what stuck out was the purple spines buried in the wall and floor. Stepping over them Alexander leaned in to look closer at the camera. It was angled towards the desk, but more specifically, the monitors on the desk displaying surveillance of the perimeter.

The blood in Alexander's veins suddenly dropped a couple degrees as a cold sweat broke out across his brow. Kara noticed a sudden increase in cortisol from her suit's readings and quickly began to scan Alexander for any new wounds.

"What's wrong?"

Alexander took a couple steps back and shakily began to feel his chest plate for any severe punctures. He came up with nothing and swallowed back rising bile. "I don't know."

A burst of static crackled from under the desk and threatened to give Alexander a heart attack. He stopped short of obliterating it with a burst of gunfire and he quickly plucked a fallen walkie talkie from the floor.

"Channel forty-one is open," Kara ordered. Alexander nodded and fumbled with the dials and yelped when a jolt shot through him. Kara buzzed in irritation and continued, "I've already synched it to the transceiver, just start talking."

"You don't need to be a dick about it."

"I don't care if I'm bein' a dick, get your ass outta there now!"

Alexander startled and spoke before he could catch himself. "Who the hell are you?"

Gunfire cracked through the helmet and Alexander flinched as the security gate shuddered from an impact. "-ckin' move it now!"

The desperation in the voice sank into Alexander's mind and he would dwell on it late in the following nights to come. If that voice hadn't reached him at that moment there wouldn't have been any doubt that he wouldn't have walked away from that laboratory.

Alexander had listened and was moving when the glass window of the guard's shack exploded into microscopic shards. Something big and very pissed off slammed into him with enough force to launch his hapless form through the door frame. Everything blurred as he slid across the pavement and hit the curb, but the hiss that filled the air reverberated around him as another impact knocked him down again. Alexander swung blindly and a loud crunch resounded as he clubbed his assailant with his firearm.

Red carapace was crushed as the Ariados hissed again. It lunged and Alexander's hand lashed out and stuck it at the base of the neck, keeping it at bay. There was a report in Alexander's ear and the side of its head splattered across the pavement. He shoved it off as a sibilant orchestra cut through the air. Anger blossomed in Alexander's chest and pushed aside the fear as he fired blindly at the gate. He forced a hand underneath him and shifted his weight until his knees hit the pavement, and with a push, he was sprinting for the building.

Muzzle flashes came from the roof of the main building and Alexander could hear the bullets whizz by. He didn't need to guess if they were effective as screeches threatened to deafen him and Alexander staggered as something struck him. Alexander flailed thinking it was another Ariados until another impact nearly threw him to the ground.

A large convoy truck was parked haphazardly on the clean-cut lawn and provided a much-desired barrier between Alexander and the sudden rain of Poison Sting that tried to overcome him. The last-ditch effort to claim his life failed as he threw himself under the truck and cowered. Metal pinged with each impact and Alexander jostled himself further under the truck as the needles began to pile up.

After a couple minutes of this, the attacks faded and left Alexander to quietly try and keep himself from melting down. A small waft of smoke curled around his helmet and Alexander sharply turned his head to face a soldier laying beside him. His crooked smile was tinted pink and he weakly chuckled as he offered him a crushed cigarette. Alexander looked further down and felt his stomach churn when he spotted the couple needles sticking out of the man's waist.

"Wanna smoke? You're gonna need it."

* * *

 **My confidence with this chapter isn't as high as with the previous chapters, so please tell me what you think! Am I doing alright so far?**


	5. Psychosis

**Aaand I'm back, only two weeks late! There were some technical difficulties, but it is now here for you to read!**

* * *

The sun was a catalyst during the first twenty-four hours. It's arrival at dawn spelled destruction for many human settlements as pokemon coordinated attacks with militaristic precision at first light. Those that didn't fall in the light sputtered out of existence with its absence as the sun's departure led to the same fate for many other settlements because of the nocturnal pokemon.

Governments came apart at the seams as they tried and failed to protect their citizens from the slaughter. Sometimes, it wasn't even pokemon that were the greatest threats. Human factions took control of the disorder to try and assert their power; killing any that stood in their way of conquest. While the pokemon rested from their bloody crusades the same humans that they tried to exterminate had picked up their work and continued the killings, suddenly free from the norms and roles that kept them from becoming what they really were: monsters hidden just beneath the surface.

The blood was spilling with no signs of slowing, and for the longest time all the world could do was bleed as its inhabitants turned on each other. The land could only bear so much and it eventually gave way to the seas, where they themselves turned red as the soil overflowed with the bodies of the dead and the damned.

Yet, despite all of the suffering and loss, the world kept spinning. The light would fade and let hope for a better tomorrow be crushed with its eventual return. The darkness would quietly usher empty promises and threats for the survivors as they struggled to make do. The cycle was a curse that many looked up to despite their suffering. It was for guidance through these times, either for bloodshed or a chance to go without for a little while longer.

In Alola, the moon was looked upon as the sun's reign slowly ended. It was saught out by the religious, the tourists trying to find something salvageable from their ruined vacations, and the empowered creatures that wanted vengeance. The archipelago's future had been written in grievances that never saw the light of justice. Blood was the fastest way to fix those grievances, and tonight Melemele was going to bleed.

* * *

The trees cast shadows that warped the landscape around the facility. Their darkness was spreading and slowly swallowing the land inch by inch. As the voids crept along the movement within that very same darkness remained just at the edge of sight, but always present.

The Ariados' impatience had cost them, from what Alexander learned from the dying soldier. Through weakening puffs of smoke, an image of a glorious fight was told were only thirty soldiers had managed to fend off a swarm of the vilest creatures to have ever tried to take a piece out of them. They held their own, pushed them back, and the web slingers were going to pay for daring to go against them.

Alexander wished that the man's injuries hadn't made him delirious. His squad was hiding inside the main building for a reason. They were holding them at bay only because of the electric fence and the few brave souls that dared to peek through their respective windows to take shots at anything that tried to pass beyond it.

Through a small gap in the wall of Poison Sting Alexander watched as some Ariados tried to break the floodlights that kept the shadows from advancing. Trying to topple one of the lights with String Shot led to complete failure as the soldiers simply fired into the darkness where the combined webbing petered out of existence. They suffered losses from it, no doubt, and quickly responded with Poison Sting. The building was assaulted in waves of the needles and forced the soldiers away long enough for them to target the lights. One by one the bulbs were destroyed, letting them advance a bit more.

The soldiers returned fire, and the pokemon scattered as the bullets flew. It had become a waiting game. Eventually, the lights would fade and leave the soldiers blind to whatever would transpire inside the compound.

The sound of metal on metal broke Alexander's attention as he looked over to the soldier. He was gouging the fuel tank with his combat knife and diesel was running down the length of the man's arm. His cigarettes had long been reduced to discarded butts, saving them both from an accidental pyre. Weakly he fumbled with the dog tags around his neck and offered them.

"Can you give this to my commander? I'm not-" A series of wet coughs broke his monologue before it could begin. "- up for the walk, ya' know? I'm gonna stay down here, give 'em hell the moment they try and nab me. Bastards won't know what'll hit 'em. Might even give my pals enough time for the chopper to get here."

He looked past Alexander and at the empty space above them. A hand pulled out a grey cylinder that Alexander quickly identified as a phosphorus grenade. "Get out'ta here, there's an unbarred door by the parking garage that I was supposed to get to. Be careful, my pals don't have any clue as to what the hell is goin' on in there."

"Evac?" Alexander asked. He didn't want to meet the rest of the soldiers, but he needed a way out.

"Supposed to get it hours ago, but it didn't show. Somethin's happening at the base that slowed them down... but they was sayin' that they were sendin' us somethin' since we... gotta' hold of the professor."

"The poor bastard chose the wrong day to... come to work." The soldier grimaced and pulled the pin. He shoved his dog tags into Alexander's hand and smiled through cherry-red teeth as Alexander jerked away. He clamped his hands around the lever and grimaced. "Move your ass... unless ya wanna go out with me."

At the sound of the pin, Kara startled and accidentally jolted Alexander, who in turn smacked his helmet against the underside of the truck as he scrambled away from the man. He didn't trust his remaining strength and being trapped in a glorified bonfire wasn't how they were going to go out. He rolled out from under the truck and flattened spines as he forced himself into a run. The Poison Sting couldn't puncture his boots, thankfully. They came with the suit, so the company hadn't skimped out on their durability.

As he crossed the lawn the swarm's collective anger began dripping down his neck as Alexander pumped his legs harder. It burned more than his muscles and lungs combined and felt like fire was being poured down his back.

Dark streaks blurred at the edge of his vision as the Ariados' precision was weakened by their bloodlust. Every missed shot was another step, and Alexander made them count as he closed the distance between himself and the parking garage. He ignored the fallen he passed and tuned out the sound of flesh being mutilated as the entrance to the garage drew closer. The gunfire that futily tried to suppress the Long Leg Pokemon was faint in his ears as he focused on the final yards.

A Poison Sting pinged off his helmet and jerked Alexander's head sideways. He felt his neck pop in retaliation and grunted as he was nearly knocked head over heels. Small bits of concrete from the building was dislodged by the assault and dust stuck to his suit as Alexander found enough strength to push himself up the ramp and into the lot.

Kara wasted no time and energy surged through the suit- and Alexander- as she ejected herself from the transceiver. There was a security gate that she could close; hopefully, it would give them time to find the door. She found the card reader for it and entered the device. It provided the pathway she needed and the world became strings of code as Kara shot into control. There was nothing complex about the system, she realized. The controls were child's play and the gate was descending before Alexander could get his breath back.

The human in question fell to a knee and sucked in a lungful of air. It wasn't enough; he was burning up, yet drowning at the same time. His skin broke out in goosebumps as he struggled to tear off his helmet. He fumbled with the latches but just couldn't get the grip he needed. Lightning bolts racked through his body as he started to hyperventilate.

 _What's happening to me?_ He thought, barely keeping himself from falling into a panic. This pain was new. A blooming rose flowered in the back of his head and tried to split his head open; its roots dug into his chest and threatened to choke out his heartbeat. Dark splotches wavered in his vision as he struggled so Alexander didn't notice when one of them grew legs.

Alexander finally managed to get somewhere with the latches and pried until they gave. He was so close to getting the helmet off. He almost got to enjoy the feeling of fresh air when a Sucker Punch got in the way.

It hit like a sledgehammer and knocked any chance of coherent thought out of his mind. He began falling through an empty abyss without any sense of control. Fragments of memory fell past him: incredible landscapes, empty promises, a doctor trying to keep him at the hospital. Groggy thoughts floated around in his head and Alexander started to become self-aware of his plight. He wondered if Chief had hit him too hard. He must've said something very stupid to deserve this.

 _I should learn to shut up sometime._

Eventually, something faintly resembling awareness came crawling back and started settling from its forced vacation. Alexander found himself on the ground, nearly kissing the cement as something that tasted like iron pooled around his head. His helmet had wandered off somewhere, and he took a moment to relish the cool air blowing against his face. Undefined shapes whistled by as the ungodly ringing that succeeded the plane crash came back with vengeance and forced a groan out of him. Sparks drifted past him and Alexander was brought back to the cabin of the plane for a nanosecond as he felt for the kukri he had hidden in his armor. The lights fluctuated from a power surge as a siren slowly started to cut through the ringing.

Some of his training was kicking in before he was fully aware of it as he clenched the machete harder and prepared. He could feel the presence of something behind him. He needed to roll twice, and on the second roll shift his weight to his knees and use the momentum to throw the blade with as much force as possible. It was a last resort to buy an operative time if they were having their ass kicked because the maneuver was easily avoidable if the opponent was agile.

A Shuckle could have avoided Alexander. He managed to flip onto his back before his body screamed in protest and caught up with his state of mind. His vision blurred even more so than before; he closed his eyes and shut it out. The alarm he had been hearing stopped and the ringing began to fade away. For a moment he wondered if he had even felt anything to begin with. Nothing was taking the opportunity to maul him; he was clearly vulnerable and easy pickings.

He wasn't going to waste time thinking about it. While he waited for his body to quit protesting Alexander found a moment to try and collect himself. There were no sharp pains when he had tried to move, so no broken bones. His muscles felt like they had been bathed in acid, but he could get over it. His head was throbbing and when he touched his temple his hand came away wet. He had torn his stitches. The doctors were going to be livid. Everything else wasn't broken enough to become an obstacle thankfully.

Alexander grit his teeth as he propped himself up with his elbows. The heat of the pavement that began radiating through the suit drew his attention. The garage was demolished. It was pocketed with deep holes and shallow marks were etched into the pavement that left crossing trails along the floor and walls. Smoke was obscuring the ceiling so he couldn't see the severity of the damage, but the darkness within the parking garage suggested that the lights were long gone.

The smoke was pouring out of a couple of cars. The paint that had been scorched from the vehicle was a sight Alexander had seen before with lightning strikes and the plane crash.

 _The crash._

"Kara," Alexander muttered under his breath. The patterns in the scorched concrete were identical to the ones from the crash. When he found the courage to attempt to stand he noticed a strand of web attached to his foot. It trailed across the floor and ended near a patch of the scorched cement. The silk was tougher than it looked and it took a couple of slashes with the kukri to remove it. The problem aside, Alexander forced himself upright. He coughed as he inhaled smoke and called out for his absent companion: "Kara!"

His voice echoed throughout the garage and bounced back at him through the silence. There wasn't a response. _Kara was tough, she'd be fine._

Swallowing his unease Alexander distracted himself by slowly stumbling towards his SP90. It looked miraculously untouched from the fight and was resting underneath a fried car. He reached down to grab it and felt something pop in his back as he did so. His skin prickled as he touched it and a burning sensation began creeping down his spine.

An image of a crouched figure flickered through his mind and Alexander felt himself snarl. Fury began to build up in his chest as the figure stiffened, suddenly aware of something. A thought tore through the vision and whispered in his ear: _This one was going to pay._

The sudden anger boiling in his chest overrode the complaints his body had. He went into a roll and a crimson blur smashed into the wall he had been standing beside. He twisted and his knees found purchase as he lifted himself into a crouch. Brown eyes met purple and for a brief moment, both were equally shocked.

Then Alexander blew it apart. The rounds held no mercy for the Ariados and each one tore large chunks from its body. The pokemon tumbled and came apart as gore quickly painted the wall around it.

Each report and spent casing was a heated blade that dug deeper into Alexander's head. He had failed to notice how sensitive his ears were before and was harshly informed of it as he nearly became deaf. His gunfire started to become faint as the ringing came back like a tsunami. Sharp pains racked through his brain and caused him to see stars until the target finally collapsed seconds after its attack.

Alexander ceased firing and felt his skin burn even more. He swung around in time to squeeze off a few more shots before he was slammed by another arachnid. It latched onto his sides and gave him a solid view of the inside of its mouth as it tried to take a bite out of his face. Somehow he managed to grab it by the mandibles and stop it, but his arms trembled as he struggled to keep it at bay. The web spitter seemed motivated by the sign of weakness and started to push harder against him, quickly gaining ground and shrinking the space between them.

He wasn't going out like this.

Raw rage filled every part of his body and Alexander's face contorted as he roared and twisted one of the mandibles with as much force as possible. The Ariados shrieked as something crunched and its bottom jaw hit his armor as it tried to shake its head free. He quit pushing it away and instead yanked on the screaming pokemon; slamming its head against his armor a second time before he rammed a knee against its soft underside. Its grip loosened and Alexander quickly propped his foot against it and kicked it off of him with all the force he could muster. It fell away and with his hands now free he grappled for his gun as it tried to recover from the shock of the beating.

The Ariados screeched and came back at him, but was stopped short when a boot smashed against its face and knocked it back a couple more inches. Alexander managed to bring his weapon around and squeeze the trigger. Four rounds tore into the monster before his gun ran out of ammunition, but it was stopped.

Alexander discarded his gun and went for the kukri. The Ariados was making horrific sounds as it desperately tried to cling to life. It saw him coming through its death throws and managed to drag itself a couple of feet away before he caught up to it. He kicked it again and knocked it off balance before it could go any farther. As it tried to recover the cold steel cut through its neck and sent the decapitated head rolling.

Alexander watched its body struggle weakly and turned away. He didn't find glory in death.

The fighter stumbled back to his weapon and exchanged his spent magazine for a fresh one. He scanned everything that was visible with a couple of quick sweeps: the cars, walls, and floors. There wasn't any movement in the garage aside from him, but he refused to lower his weapon from his shoulder.

The energy that Alexander felt moments before began to dissipate and his vision started to swim. His stomach twisted and he retched up the last thing he ate.

It was the food that the hospital had offered them. A cup of fruit and a pathetic excuse for a sandwich was all they could offer; the inflow of patients was overwhelming the staff and they were running low on nearly everything. Connor was lucky to have snagged a cot in that madhouse.

The monster of a headache that Alexander had been dealing with all day was creeping back again as he recalled some of what he forgot. It lined up with what Kara had told him, but there was still pieces of the picture missing.

Wiping his mouth, he felt his hair stand on end and turned expectantly. _It was about time._

"I'm glad to see you're doing okay."

 _"I'msosorryAlexareyouokayyou'rebleedingit'smyfaultIshouldhavenoticedandnowyou'rehurt!"_

Kara was a frantic orange blur that Alexander couldn't track. Her hysterical ramblings went by too fast for the transceiver to properly adapt them so it began to whine nearly as loudly as her wailing. The combination of the two quickly overpowered his sensitive ears and his headache plunged into unforgiving territory. He flinched as she buzzed around him and felt his blood run cold. His chest seized slightly and he took an unsteady step towards her. She had never acted like this before.

"Kara, listen to- Kara! Stop!"

The command worked. Kara became a silent, perceivable shape again and Alexander's heart nearly stopped. She had a deep cut that leaked a bluish liquid. It was dripping onto the cement and crackled with every impact as small arcs of energy shot from the epicenter and across the ground. Incredibly bright, blue arcs of energy also flickered around her as she buzzed in a small circle in front of him. The ozone was thick as the two watched each other with unparalleled horror.

"Kara..." Alexander breathed. He fought back a surge of panic and raised his arm slowly. The energy around her snapped and bit at his hand but he didn't stop. That injury could kill her. "Get in the transceiver."

Kara zipped away and shuddered. There was another untranslatable spew that Alexander cut off with a wince. The transceiver's speakers activated again and she started again: "No! You're hurt because I-"

Alexander shook his head. He wasn't going to argue. "You need a stable area to recover!"

"I let them get to you Alex. I'm not going to let them have another chance." Kara spoke softly, but there was an edge to her words that tried to end the conversation. It might've worked with another employee, one that just didn't give a damn or was a pushover, but Alexander was neither. She realized too late that she had upset him and started to move again to avoid Alexander's glare.

Alexander twitched as he tried to keep a rational conversation. It was mental stress that was hampering Kara's judgment. She wasn't in her right mind; it was reasonable that she conveniently forgot the last seven years of her memory that retained to him. It happened with the disturbed all the time. Forgoing his anger he tried again to reason with her.

"Let me help you! You can't help me if you're injured like this." She didn't respond and kept flitting around him. A growl escaped his lips and he staggered forward in an attempt to get closer. It was foolish, but he was going to try and force her if this continued. "Kara, please."

She whined somewhere behind him but the transceiver remained silent. Forget not arguing, he was about to go crazy. He could curse in eleven different languages and he was about to use every single one of them when Kara reappeared with his battered helmet. She offered it to him quietly and they locked eyes. She was terrified for him. Alexander softened and quietly took it from her. He tried to find something to say and his mind blanked. "I'll live, alright? I've survived worse."

The resolve left Kara's eyes and she caved. He wasn't wrong. The suit hummed quietly as she entered the transceiver. It made Alexander's skin itch and he bit his tongue as his sore muscles were hit with another jolt of electricity. Taking a breath and shaking the stiffness out of his arms, he flipped the helmet to look at the damage.

He traced his fingers along the large dent that it now sported and felt sick. This suit was meant for an interdimensional crisis. It didn't break easily. He'd worn similar models three times before: once investigating an anomaly in Johto; and twice in Sinnoh, before his squad learned of that cursed feather.

His career had changed because of that. He had been containment and emergency response for regional and global threats. He was good at his job. At one point he was frequently called on to protect the world. Sometimes the company's ass also, but whichever came first. How many times had he been called to stop or manage a cataclysm in the last four years alone, seven times?

It didn't matter anymore. They thought he was dangerous now. He wasn't trustable with the world's safety anymore, regardless of his performance. Alexander fell from protecting the world to only protecting the people that screwed it up in the first place.

He traced a crack in the helmet to the glass faceplate and noticed a couple more now spanned its length. One went through the reflection of a face he didn't recognize at first. It was lost, weak. Yet, it still dared to sternly glare at him until a droplet of blood fell from its scalp and landed on the helmet, covering its eyes. Alexander slid a thumb across the drop and smeared it further along the glass, blurring the face until it was gone. Satisfied, he carefully slipped the helmet over his bloodied scalp and felt for the latches, securing the helmet to the suit with the ones that could still seal.

"I should not have allowed you to leave the hospital." Kara declared. The volume was lower than normal and Alexander's heart skipped a beat. She couldn't be that injured. His panic didn't go unnoticed and she calmly spoke again. "Your hearing is sensitive, Alex. I'm fine, but you're not. I won't hurt you again."

"You didn't hurt me." Alexander retorted. He found the door that the soldier had told him about and locked it behind him. He continued down a brightly lit hallway with his weapon at ready. "I've been worse."

"I left you vulnerable. I ignored how erratic your vitals have been, and I failed to pay attention to the environment. I put you in serious danger and you're hurt because of it. That's my fault."

The lights flickered and darkness swallowed the hallway. Gunfire erupted somewhere above them and Alexander started walking faster as the intensity of the reports began to increase. Emergency lights activated and illuminated parts of the hallway before the visor darkened and cut them off.

Alexander remained silent as his vision was returned to him as a colorless landscape. Shapes became white lines with depths altered into shades of grey and black. It was company standard enhanced vision- meant for extremely bright light or lack thereof. It worked much better than traditional night vision.

"...do I want a status report?"

"The integrity of the electrical systems are failing. You are going to want to take a left." Kara warned. "Hostiles have reached the building and are attempting to breach rooms on the right."

"How do you know this?" Alexander asked between pants. He didn't doubt Kara for a moment and followed her orders without question. Picked up the pace his feet stayed low to the ground to minimize the sounds of his footsteps.

"I've gained access to the wireless security cameras within the building. They're rebooting from the power fluctuations so the system hasn't noticed me yet. Take a right and watch your step."

Alexander faltered as he processed multiple forms in the obliterated hallway he had to pass through. He couldn't find a better description besides lumps of flesh; there wasn't enough there to call them figures. It was more like pieces. They might have all belonged to only a couple living creatures, but with the number of scattered parts it was hard to tell what belonged to who. The damage to the mutilated bodies extended to the deep gouges in the walls and what remained of the collapsed ceiling. The debris was navigatable, so after stepping over a severed arm he pushed on. He was mindful that his boots had little traction in the pools of blood, so he trodded carefully.

Once he worked past the worst of the carnage Alexander followed Kara's instructions down a couple more hallways. The gunfire ended as he came to an unmarked door and Kara's silence once again got under his skin. "Is this it?"

"Is this it?" The door parroted back. "Authorization confirmed. Agent Cipher, state your business."

Alexander blinked and took a breath. The company always had a way to take him by surprise. Why he was already in this specific database wasn't something he had the luxury to think about for long. "Emergency retrieval of the ARK and all mobile company property in the wake of a Code Grey cataclysm."

The system remained silent for a moment before the door opened. "Granted. Please speak with Agent Shifter. Learn why he had unauthorized contact with Base [ _Redacted_ ] and HQ, and why he has ignored attempted contact from HQ."

"Affirmative," Alexander responded. Deciding that he was done he started through the door and up a flight of stairs. He didn't know who Agent Shifter was, but he looked forward to meeting the mole. The agent was going to be helpful for navigating this facility since he was stationed here.

The staircase ended and Alexander found himself in a small room cramped with server towers and a large wall monitor. A cluttered desk was against the wall with the monitor and an empty handgun case sat open on it. The gun in question was in the center of the room, right beside Agent Shifter's body.

"That's unfortunate." Kara deadpanned. He could have helped them find the ARK faster.

Alexander nodded in agreement and attempted to avoid looking at the former agent's brain matter. It was more difficult than it should have been because it was a large gun and it had scattered the gore everywhere. Swallowing his disgust and disappointment in the agent he looked around. "What am I looking for?"

"A flash drive. It has the Alolan coat of arms on it: the first Kalosian explorer to discover and conquer the islands."

With that description, Alexander found the flash drive quickly. It rested on top of a stack of papers on the desk. He picked it up and rolled it in his hand for a moment. "Hey Kara, I just found a couple million dollars."

"It's four hundred million." Kara corrected curtly.

Alexander ignored her and whistled as he admired the stick. "Expensive paperweight."

It wasn't supposed to be anything, but somehow it lit a powder keg. The suit heated up and Alexander's eyes widened as Kara snapped.

"Are you seriously joking right now!?"

Alexander lost his patience and he sneered at the corpse at his feet. It was just another thing to fail him today. Any helping hand could have done but no, this agent had to be a coward. "Oh, are you the only one allowed to joke?"

"I joke when it's appropriate! Now's not the time for your poor attempts at humor!"

"Your's are not any better!"

It could be summed up as stress that pushed them to this point.

Alexander was pushing himself too hard and he was paying for every inch. He had fallen from the sky, nearly had his head split open twice, murdered pokemon, and he wasn't even certain if it was real. He didn't have the luxury to think, and that was exactly how these simulations ran. Now he was being yelled at by his closest friend. He couldn't move on from these things like her, couldn't follow the rigid guidelines that the company programmed into her. It pissed him off that she expected that from him. He wanted to scream and break shit until _something_ happened. Let Kara fry him or an Ariados eat him- hell, let the Company stop the damn simulation before he kills himself in a rage; something had to change. The smoke and mirrors couldn't work anymore. He wanted the truth- it had to be the truth. He was starting to come apart at the seems, and he didn't know how much longer he could go on before he broke completely.

Kara was afraid. More so than any other point in her existence. Someone had given her enough power to finally protect Alexander from the company. She thought she could stop everything that wanted to hurt him, but she couldn't. She hadn't considered that the company wasn't the only threat. Alex was just another human to whoever started this. He was supposed to die too, and she couldn't stop them all from coming after him. She couldn't even stop him. He was just as dangerous to himself as everything else. He refused to listen to her and kept throwing himself into danger because he refused to accept what was happening. And now he dared joke about it like this was a game. He had no clue about what was coming. The whole world was falling apart in front of his eyes and somehow he still couldn't see it.

"Do you even care about what's happening, Alex? You might not even walk out of here!"

"I always have before," Alexander deflected. He was a survivor. He survived his missions, the company's ignorance, SABER, everything. At least until now.

"What about Guyana? The experiment that breached in Kalos? You don't have the company anymore to pick you back up; we're on our own now."

The room had grown smaller during their fight. The intensity of their bickering was growing and sweltered in the closed area as they turned on each other. The lights flickered as energy surged into them and harshly illuminated everything.

Kara had said something that Alexander had ignored beforehand, but it came back to him at that moment. "You keep trying to tell me that they won't be able to get to us because they're too weak to survive a war. Nobody knows about them Kara, so how who is going to go after them? What type of war could unroot them?"

Kara didn't realize that her energy had been flowing directly into Alexander. It was accidental, she would never go back to doing what she used to do to him when he was just a stranger. "You and Connor talked about how there would be an uprising. It's coming, Alex. Nobody sees it but the pokemon, and they know about the company."

Alexander did not realize that Kara wasn't intentional zapping him. He could take the shock even if it was much, much worse than usual, but it hurt on a personal level. It felt like all the times she had tried to control what he said or did. She always claimed that it was to protect him from himself so that the company would overlook him, but it had only drove him further into disobedience. It made him livid to think that she was trying that tactic again. "Explain to me how the company is going to fall to a bunch of scattered wilds. Are they going to try and bust down the doors, Kara? Even with these juiced powers, how are they going to get close before they're torn apart?"

"It's not the wilds that are going to end the company," Kara warned. "How many operatives care for their pokemon?"

Not enough. Most of the employees they knew were apathetic about their pokemon. The rules protecting thom were lax, and it was common for abusers to go unhindered. Alexander was one of the few to look at them as a being of worth, and for reasons that Kara couldn't understand he would reach out to them. He didn't care if it put himself at risk for disciplinary action or a beating if he crossed the wrong person; he never hesitated to try and help.

He had seen enough of the Company's abuse to understand Kara's logic, and she felt his heartbeat pick up. He pressed his hands against the sides of his helmet and shook his head slightly.

"I don't believe it," Alexander whispered. It was like a viel had been lifted, and he forgot his reservations in a heatbeat as his mind raced.

 _This- this felt too elaborate for the company. They were predictable._

Something cracked and in a flash of rage he kicked the desk with enough force to lift it a couple of inches. Everything resting on it was sent airborne and scattered around the room as he cursed. "What did we do!?"

It was a complete change in direction that Kara had not expected. She couldn't even guess what was going on in Alexander's head, but she needed to stop it. "We didn't do anything!"

"We were supposed to respect and protect them, but we treated them like tools instead! I could've done anything to change it, but I didn't. If the company falls then they'll move on and go after the rest of the world. There'll be a slaughter in our names because I didn't speak up!"

 _This couldn't be real._

"This isn't your fault!" Kara asserted. The voice and its message were the trigger for the genocide. Not Alex. "Someone wanted this bloodshed."

 _It had every reason to be._

"Who? Who could have the power to do this?" Something bordering hatred in Alexander's eyes flared as he clenched his fists. "It was one of our own, wasn't it? A rogue unit, some egghead in a lab- did we finally spite the wrong pokemon?"

Probably. The company loved to pick at things that should be left alone. Kara paused as the fire in his eyes extinguish as something crossed his mind. "Alex? What are you thinking?"

 _He didn't want to believe it._

A rogue unit. Was this his punishment? They wanted to rub it in his face and really show him the damage he could have done. He didn't know they had gone rogue until it was too late. He had tried to stop them; He followed the procedures by the book and he did everything he was supposed to do. It still resulted in a new Black Zone and increased pressure from the Kantonean government. The company was nearly exposed because of his old unit, and Mount Tensei was thirty feet shorter because of it.

Somehow they knew he hadn't told them everything. He had refused to mention what had actually killed his entire squad and blamed the local pokemon instead. Yes, they had helped in the matter, but they had been turned into puppets for that thing. Them and their own pokemon, too. That creature, it couldn't be brought to the company's attention; they would try and capture it and people would die.

So this was their trump card then. They refused to let him go and the SABER program was their last shot to force him to talk. He nearly fell for it.

The monitor interrupted his mulling as it lit up to display an incoming live feed request. The icon flashed a couple of times and before he could be stopped Alexander patched it through. It was back to his impulses again, he couldn't appear weak. They had to trust him.

There was an unusual burst of static as it began to connect that Kara recognized as a signal issue. It faded after a moment and brought them into the company of a familiar, powerful face.

High Command looked nothing like she did earlier in the day. Her formidable appearance was shattered by inches of stained bandages and a ruined posture as she propped herself against the cubicle wall. Small smears of blood ran along the bridge of her nose and her rumpled uniform was speckled with more of the bodily fluid. The stripes that symbolized her rank had been replaced with a series of stars, something Alexander had never seen before and Kara once while reading through files. Despite being disheveled and pale, the most startling thing about her was the soft smile that crossed her face when she saw them. It radiated from the backdrop of darkness that surrounded her.

"Someone finally found the time to answer my call." She uttered softly.

Kara and Alexander stood mute at her sudden appearance. He stood at attention and began to solute before High Command shook her head. Her eyes looked sad, but the glare from the monitor made it hard to tell if it was a trick of the light.

The duo didn't realize it, but they were receiving the last broadcast that HQ would ever send out.

* * *

 **The longest Chapter yet, I hope you enjoyed the read. If there's something that you think I should work on with my writing, let me know. I can only improve with your critisism, so lend me some if I need it.**

 **Also, it'll be heating up next chapter, so stick with me if this is going to slow for you!**


	6. Forsaken from the Start

**Hello! Here's another update, and Thanks again to Cornova for permitting me to write this, as well as proof-reading it.**

* * *

High Command was drinking and Alexander didn't know what to do. It set off every alarm in his head, watching her gulp it down like it was from a small pond within an ocean of sand. It didn't fit the formality of the High Command- they didn't so much as sniffle during transmissions- so he squirmed as she finished off the bottle. She looked at it as if it had insulted her by running dry before dropping it, the shattering glass loud in the transmission. The sudden realization that it was dead silent on her end was interrupted when she pulled out another bottle from thin air and cracked it open. If she noticed his discomfort she didn't care enough to stop herself before she finished off the bottle within a few swallows.

She had hardly spoken since the transmission began, instead opting to listen as Alexander quickly explained his situation. She had seemed bored at the beginning, showing no emotion when she learned about Chief and the condition Connor was in. He had almost managed to pull out the flash drive when she had walked away from the screen. She just... walked away.

Now she was back with booze, and she was still uninterested.

It took him a moment, but Alexander realized with a start that he still had his helmet on. That was why she was acting strange, he had forgotten the simplest formality! He ripped his helmet off and tucked under his arm, all the while trying not to piss his pants just thinking about the punishments he could receive for such an infraction.

High Command broke her attention from the bottle and choked on her beverage when she got a good look at his face. Alexander jumped a foot in the air at the suddenness of it and fidgeted more as she recovered, shrinking as she leaned closer to the screen.

"What in the actual hell happened to your face?"

"I-um, wha..." Alexander sputtered, reaching up to feel his cheek to understand what she meant.

"No, God no! Don't touch it! Do you want me to get sick?"

It was Kara that saved Alexander from having a meltdown right then and there. "He was burned in the plane crash that was previously reported, _ma'am_ , and has since received multiple injuries that he has listed to you already."

Scratch that, he nearly went into hysterics when High Command's face contorted into a scowl. Kara had just sassed her, of all people. The person with the power to order their termination.

"What in the [ _explicit redacted_ ] did you just call me? You orange little f-"

The entire screen shook and High Command nearly fell over as things on the desk toppled and fell. Things started breaking off-screen and a sudden cloud of dust blurred out the footage for a moment. The shaking on the screen stopped but the sounds of things breaking continued for a couple more seconds before fading; the following silence made Alexander morbidly curious about what was happening on her side.

There were no alarms or panicked voices, not even when the lights flickered and illuminated the room. High Command coughed and waved the dust away from her face; the anger that had been written on her face had slipped away and was replaced with a sullen, taut expression.

"High Command?"

The woman trailed her fingers through her hair before she pulled a keyboard closer and started typing.

"Alexander," The grunt stiffened. Never, _Never_ , were personal names used. He was about to be terminated, wasn't he? "why did you pursue the Op after losing your detail?"

Alexander swallowed and shakily showed her the ARK. "I believed that this would get me an extraction... Will it?"

He said the last part with hesitation- he didn't have the rank to ask questions. Yet, out of anybody to ask, it would be her to give him the most likely possibility. High Command was looking at something on her screen and had stopped typing

"You've spent most of your life with us. Your work has benefited us greatly, why were you..." High Command whispered to herself. She read silently before looking directly at Alexander. "You don't know, do you?"

"Evidently, no." Kara deadpanned. She noticed Alexander's blood pressure spike but she wasn't going to play the guessing game with High Command. Not anymore. "Do you care to inform us?"

High Command didn't bite back. The woman looked tired and beaten, but what stopped Kara short was the despair that crossed her face as she broke. A facade that fooled both of them fell as she slumped against her desk and covered her eyes. Short, ragged breathing filtered through the speakers for a moment as she tried to collect herself.

"We passed the brink of a Code Black cataclysm twenty minutes ago."

There were three codes: white, grey, and black. Code White meant that only specific parts of the world were severely damaged by the incident, but on a global scale, the world was relatively unharmed and recovered quickly. A Code Grey meant that large parts of the globe were affected, and recovery would take time. The damage would be moderate, but survivable. The world would adapt and go back to what it was before. A Code Black was a different story. The entire planet would be severely damaged by the cataclysm and there would be no chance for the world to return to what it was before. Civilization as a whole would be threatened with annihilation, and if it were to survive the entire planet would have to rebuild.

It would become the beginning of a new era.

Understandably, Alexander began to tremble. Kara didn't know what state of mind he was in anymore, he kept switching from reality to fantasy, but for a moment it looked like he was back with her.

"Pokemon have begun to attack cities around the world. We thought it was isolated at first, but then the reports started flooding in; we're seeing total losses in some places." Highs Command wiped something out of the corner of her eye just as the camera shook again. "It's like it was organized. We've tried to stop it, but too much is happening at once and we were exposed. There's even- we actually have images of Legendary pokemon beginning to congregate on levels we've never seen before!"

High Command clenched her fists. "Alpha thought it was the beginning of a war. He was right... he was [ _explicit redacted_ ] right, okay? When the rest of us finally realized it this place became a madhouse. All of the Commanders locked themselves in the emergency bunker and wouldn't let anyone in. When the damn psychics showed up to knock down our door they ordered the guards to kill everyone up there, no exceptions."

"But Alpha had an emergency plan." She whispered. High Command looked desperate all of a sudden. "This-this place was never meant to be breached, but he had an emergency plan in case it was. He poisoned everyone down here, destroyed our data archives after he found a suitable base that he trusted would survive this. He knew I didn't know enough to be a risk, so when he took his dose he gave me a list of instructions to follow. I've done it all! There's not one [ _explicit redacted_ ] thing down here for those psychics to get their hands on! No brain, no brawn, no tech, nothing!"

Tears started flowing down her face and High Command slammed her fists into the desk. "I had plans! Why was it me that had to do this and not some security guard! I-I... He promoted me to Alpha! He promoted me to lead this organization just for me to [ _explicit redacted_ ] destroy it! I wanted to[ _explicit redacted_ ] live, but I have to die if it means protecting this miserable [ _explicit redacted_ ] planet!"

Alexander wanted to curl up in a ball and hide. He was a captive audience that was supposed to remain neutral, even if he had just learned that his entire life had just been destroyed.

He didn't think of it until later, but High Command had been calling for a reason. She had the weight of the world on her shoulders at that moment- it's fate rested in her hands. She was expected to take it and run. This was her vent, her last wish. Trapped in a metal tomb with the bodies of her allies, her only desire was to be known so she didn't blink out of existence unnoticed. She needed a hand to hold in her last moments.

The video flickered and High Command seemed to freeze for a second. "No no no no no no." She whispered furiously. Her hands went back to the keyboard and suddenly little envelope icons started appearing in the corner of Alexander's screen.

"Alexander, if you want to retire and just leave this [ _explicit redacted_ ] nightmare behind, your exit slip was just sent to you. If the organization survives they'll never bother you again. I-* _static_ *- functional bases within th-* _static_ *- avoid Melemele's mili-* _static_ *-..."

The rest of the video flickered until Alexander couldn't hear anything above the static. After a couple of minutes of waiting for it to return the feed cut, leaving him to stare at his reflection, and what had distracted High Command. He realized in his haste to remove his helmet he had accidentally exposed the burned part of his face. Carefully the grunt reached up and readjusted the bandage before slipping his helmet back over his head.

 _Alpha_. He corrected himself and immediately felt a dizzy spell come over him. High Command were mere drones compared to the Alpha. Forget High Command's power to terminate individuals without question; Alpha could start a war just for entertainment value.

The mail icon flashed again and drew Alexander's attention; he started browsing through the files that had been sent to him after a moment of hesitation. The first one contained the retirement form already signed and awaiting his own signature. His stomach cramped thinking about it. He skipped over it and found himself reading the final official message from HQ:

 _"To all surviving personnel that is reading this, cease all travel unless it isn't in your best interest. A Code Black cataclysm has been announced, and if you are not on base yet and are in contact with them do only what is instructed by your local base. You must have constant contact with your base at all times, and do not cease contact until you are retrieved. Disregard any and all contact from HQ or radio silent bases in the future as they have effectively been deemed as compromised. Only local search and rescue missions are possible from here on out. If you are just receiving this: An unknown event of global proportions unfolded six hours, eleven minutes, and seventeen seconds ago and has since disrupted every settlement on record. Research is no longer ongoing as to how this phenomenon occurred and has been determined that it isn't related to another organization. If you have surviving pokemon that have not killed you: Treat them well. Widespread reports of coordinated pokemon assaults are spreading and losses of personnel/civilian/pokemon lives have been skyrocketing as time progresses. You will need them to survive. Find a secure location. It should be heavily fortified and armed. Do not leave that location once you have contacted the nearest operational installation unless instructed. Be prepared for anything, many nations are already on the verge of war/collapse and the threat of nuclear fallout is rising. You will not be marked as a class-A civilian if these standards are not met. Class A civilians are no longer to be terminated immediately, unless instructed otherwise or with your best judgment on the character of that civilian. Use your best judgment with your contact with civilians, do not allow word of the company to slip or a refugee crisis will emerge. You are expected to survive so do whatever it takes to achieve that goal. All prior restrictions have been lifted in an attempt to minimalize losses, so no punishments will be issued for violations of even tier one infractions unless it is reckless and endangers personnel. You will not receive any more updates from this line. If you do: Disregard it. HQ has fallen. Do not allow your whereabouts to be compromised by responding. Our last request is to please keep a record of what you witness daily so that you can at least have information of value for other agents if you are to perish. Have the passcode be something only other Agents can know so that sensitive information won't fall in the wrong hands. Do not lose hope, we can survive this catastrophe if we work hard enough. There is still a chance for prosperity."_

Alexander leaned heavily on the desk as his knees threatened to give out. With trembling hands he continued through the emails, nearly all of them blank. The last couple files surprised him though, actually contained packages of satellite images that depicted the Company's worst fears:

 _An aerial view of a desert with a blinding pinprick of light at its center- a Code Black purge._

 _A gaping hole that stretched for miles, captioned by the name of a former city_

 _Goldenrod City, surrounded by hundreds of red dots representing what one could assume were abnormally large concentrations of wild pokemon._

 _Three Company units in the midst of being overwhelmed in an unlabeled region._

 _An underwater photo of the Guardian of the sea itself, seemingly traveling in the same direction as hundreds of other smaller pokemon also present in the photo._

Kara was mute as she looked through the data they were sent. This was bad, this was very bad. It was exactly what she had thought it would be, but it had been confirmed.

Hopefully, Alexander would listen.

The moment she decided to turn her sensors back to Alexander her hopes were dashed. The scowl on his face was deep but it was his stiff movements that gave away that he wasn't with her. He was a marionette; his actions were strung up and dictated by only what existed in his mind. She felt the tremors working up his arms as he gingerly turned off the monitor and the way he forced his breathing into a steady pace. The fire that existed in his eyes was extinguished; the smoke rising from the ashes had clouded them until they had glossed over. It was as if he wasn't even seeing anymore.

Then her paranoid human was moving at a speed that caught her off guard. He scooped a roll of electrical tape off the ground and with a sweeping hand cleared the desk of everything that had remained. He started removing the magazines in his belt and stacked them neatly in a corner before discharging the one already in his weapon. He stretched out a length of tape and began wrapping it around two clips with their feeds at opposite ends of each other, effectively tying them together for faster access. He did this with the rest of his mags and quickly replaced them in his belt.

"Kara, can you download all the files the company has here?"

Orders had always been orders for the Plasma Pokemon. They held the weight of mountains and were not to be disobeyed or questioned. You did what you were told and nothing would happen. Out of all the agents she had been assigned to it was Alexander who was nice about them, but they where orders none the less. His demands were only wrapped up and placed behind polite questions and gentle tones that could deceive any creature. With the buzz of the power still flowing through every aspect of her essence- even despite her injury- Kara felt strong enough to challenge that order. She didn't have to put up with them anymore. She was free, but he didn't think so.

The bitterness of the thought shocked her. _Where did that come from?_

The helmet tilted up a couple of degrees and Kara's attention was drawn to Alexander's worried face. The same face he made whenever she encountered a computer virus or malware and had to sit in status to recover. He wasn't a deceiver. He really shouldn't worry about her, but that was in his nature.

"Are you okay?"

"Of course I am, why do you ask?" Kara sounded impatient to mask her thoughts and Alexander bought it. He continued to work on the handgun now, doing the same work with the mags as with his SP90. He spoke quietly after he finished, his brow furrowed.

"You zapped me."

Had she? The history Kara had with electrocuting Alexander wasn't nice. He had to be thinking that he did something to irritate her, and with growing dread, she wondered if she had done it when he had ordered- asked her for the downloads. A pang of guilt swept through her and the plasma pokemon began the downloads without any more stray thoughts. There was hours of field research and classified government files detailing ultra space flooded into storage and she had to resist the sudden urge to read through them.

Kara couldn't help but want to protect what information she could. There was so much she didn't know, and the more she learned the more satisfied she felt. It all had value regardless of its contents: classified files, pictures, public records. If it came down to it some of the information could get them places. She didn't know enough about the region to get an accurate estimate on the survival chances of the government, but these files could buy them protection or at least a path forward once things settled.

Alexander mistook Kara's silence as fury as he finished packing away the drive and handgun into various parts of his suit. His little expedition had been a Farfetch'd hunt the entire time.

 _Heh. That was a good one_. Not that Kara was in the mood to hear about it, but he'd have to use that later.

Alexander's mood shifted slightly before the floor trembled. He felt Kara's current flow becoming unsteady, not unlike an AC current, and grimaced as he became the conductor between the transceiver and the floor. "Kara listen-I'm going, alright? Just let me finish up here."

"Please hurry up." She responded nervously. A faint chill that ran up Alexander's back as he used the desk to reach the sprinkler system in the room, causing him to hesitate before he took the thin pipe in both hands and jumped. His weight tore the pipe from its fasteners and the system collapsed as it snapped and proceeded to douse the entire room in water. As he hit the ground he went into a roll, avoiding the electrical discharge as the water fried the server racks and wiped any remaining Company property off the face of the Earth.

With no trace of the Company remaining, Alexander passed Agent Shifter's convulsing corpse. The Ariados would take care of the body, so he didn't stop to worry.

The door didn't greet him on the way back through, its programming went with the rest of the property. The lights were back, flickering every once in a while as the facility struggled to maintain power.

"There's a fire in the generator room," Kara explained as Alexander ran through the hallways. The building wasn't doing too well, he noticed. Parts of the walls had buckled from an unknown force, and more than one door led into a decimated workspace. "It appears that an explosion somewhere in the testing facilities caused it. A couple of soldiers were sent there at one point to contain it, but they stopped communicating with the rest of their squad a while ago. The fires are still active, so it is likely that they were ambushed trying to stop it."

A flight of stairs took him upwards where the floor was just as bad as the walls supporting it. Long bursts of gunfire erupted within the complex and Alexander slowed as they echoed down his hallway. Before he could take another step the lights flickered and dimmed considerably. The interface switched over to the advanced vision before the human could be completely blinded and began to paint the hallways black and white.

As his vision was returned to him a white patch of static started to form along the wall ahead of him. Alexander had a moment of confusion- static meant smoke, fog, or any other airborne substance- before a spindly pair of legs began to stretch out of it. The rest of the Ariados slowly followed until it was free of the Shadow Sneak, which dissipated quickly after. The arachnid trembled slightly as it recovered from using the move and its baleful expression was visible as it eyed the lights that had made the move so strenuous. It looked in the direction of the gunfire and turned towards it, completely missing the human yards away as its attention fell back to the lights. Shards of glass fell as the spider began to shoot Poison Sting into the lights, bringing the hallway into the darkness.

Alexander's curiosity cost him as the spider then used the move again, fazing through the wall and out of sight before he could stop it. "What the hell?" He whispered, almost moving forward before the whole wall began to fill with static as more of the Long Leg Pokemon began to breach the facility.

Four were followed by eight, then sixteen. The hallway was quickly swarming with them and their collective hissing permeated the air. Alexander's heart crawled up his throat as he took half a step back before he could stop himself. His boot crushed some glass and a startled pair of eyes turned in his direction, having heard it over the rest of his buddies. The lone human felt Kara's spiking pulse and realized that she was about to try and throw herself at the entire crowd to buy him time. He wasn't going to let her.

Ariados were a soft pokemon. Bug types were generally soft and easy to squash in a battle; it was the reason why so many professional trainers avoided them, but Ariados was especially pathetic. Their boost in power didn't change that. They were all grouped together in a cramped space with no place to escape when Alexander opened fire. Their bodies didn't have enough resistance to stop the bullets so each round passed through unhindered and into the unlucky creature directly behind them, decimating their numbers. It became a killing corridor, and the suddenness of it sent the survivors into a panic as they were blindsided.

There was a conflicting feeling working up in Alexander's chest as he watched the destruction he was creating. He didn't like killing. He didn't, but with these pokemon- their screams as they died- it began to feel like a fire was burning in his chest. It burned out the fear he had felt moments before and in its stead perverse amusement developed. Their fear only fed that fire as Alexander finally ran out of ammunition. The agent took the energy in his chest and threw himself into a roll as the pokemon retaliated, a few needles pinged off Alexander's suit as he rolled into an open doorway and out of their line of sight.

A hole the size of a grapefruit was blasted through the steel wall beside him, and Alexander barely felt Kara's electrical discharge as she panicked while he threw himself to the ground. His armor was the only thing to prevent the following shrapnel from skewering him as more holes were punched through the wall. He fumbled to flip the magazine as a white orb trailing green energy passed through the crippling barrier and obliterated the tile floor a foot from his head. With an inaudible click, he slammed the mag into position and racked a round as the wall began to break apart from the assault.

More Pin Missiles were going through unobstructed and Alexander had to retreat further into the room and behind some desks. Part of the ceiling collapsed as the wall gave way and crumbled. The power in the room died as a transformer that was in the ceiling came crashing down and flattened the desk that the agent was hiding behind. He jerked and fell backward, firing into the unit before he even realized it wasn't attacking him. Another white orb missed him by a hair's width and the agent flattened himself against the device. He quickly held his weapon over the top of it and blindly sprayed for a couple of seconds before he pulled back, tapping his helmet a couple of times.

"Kara, do you have a reading on how many are left!?"

"The power's out, so no." Alexander knew that tone: she was pissed at him. She was scared too because she did know how many were still after him, and they were all coming at him at once.

Static began to manifest in the corner of the room so he fired on it prematurely. A solitary corpse came tumbling out and with his attention distracted a string of web came shooting out of the darkness and stuck to his SP90. It was ripped out of his grasp, but being disarmed wasn't the worst part as the strap caught his neck and nearly collapsed his windpipe as he was yanked sideways and out of cover.

Alexander kicked and blindly groped with one hand for something to slow his speed while his other went for the newly acquired sidearm. The pressure on his throat magnified and he made a startled sound as he struggled with gripping the pistol. His hand finally found it and he tore it free, only for a surge of electricity to nearly paralyze him as Kara ejected herself from the transceiver.

Kara sounded like a fire alarm mashed together with an ambulance siren. Whatever she said wasn't translated by the transceiver, but the unyielding rage and hatred behind it burned through the language barrier. Alexander's pulse raced as _something_ spread to every fiber of his being, and quite abruptly the Ariados that had been dragging him stopped. A warning popped up in the interface describing an electrical hazard and a bright arch of light flashed across the colorless landscape almost immediately after, followed by a deafening boom.

The pressure on his neck ceased completely and Alexander heard the sound of gore splattering against surfaces. An Ariados didn't give him any time to breathe and immediately set upon him with teeth and claws that raked across his armor as it tried to keep him down. For its troubles, it was given a hard knee to its underside and an even harder headbutt to the face as its prey fought back with everything it had. Something cold and hard pressed against its sternum before it erupted, a ball of metal penetrated through its organs and exploding out its back and into the ceiling above.

Alexander shoved the cadaver aside and opened fire on the first threat he saw. Another bolt of electricity shot through the air and fried an attacker that had been situated directly behind him; Kara was still watching his back even though she had her own issues.

* * *

A bolt of Night Shade grazed her as she sped around the room and Kara smashed into a wall, not seeing the attack coming in time. The energy that she had been gifted was starting to ebb away as she slowly raised and dodged a slurry of Pin Missiles. The first fight had been what cost her the most, the cut that was oozing her life force had been a mere graze from a lucky Toucannon. Fighting with that injury was slowing her down. Alexander had been right, it was going to kill her if she didn't stop, but she couldn't- not with him in danger.

Focusing the Plasma pokemon became a blur before seemingly splitting in two, her clone zipping one way while she took a different path. With the focus on her divided Kara began to build up energy for a Shockwave, wincing as some of it crackled along her wounds. Her clone did the same but a Psychic attack crushed it. If she had more time, Kara could have emitted a stronger shockwave. What she produced didn't obliterate everything in its path, but the bolts were more than enough to launch everything that wasn't bolted down across the room, including a few of their attackers.

A wave of fatigue overtook her then. The corners of her vision blurred and Kara felt her pulse increasing as she narrowly dodged another attack. She couldn't slow down, not now.

Another Pin Missile streaked by, but this time Kara was too close to it when it detonated. The pressurized air threw her off balance as she passed through it, so she couldn't stop in time before she slammed into a file cabinet.

It was startling to feel the textures of the world, to say the least. Kara spent most of her time in programs and wires; there wasn't anything for her to do outside of those domains. Even her training was done in the virtual world, which was proven to be as effective as conventional training if done right.

Being exposed to this experience by having metal crammed into your face ruined it a little. Kara struggled to rise only for something to smash into her side and throw her, yet again, into another wall. Her vision blurred only for crimson to replace it as an Ariados loomed over her. Its eyes took on a bluish hue and intense pressure began to surround her. She lost the ability to speak as pain shot throughout her form and made her see error codes. She wouldn't cry out, she wouldn't give it what it wanted.

It stopped. She wasn't being crushed anymore and Kara shuddered as she held in a scream. The blurriness in her vision didn't go away and she felt something gently slide under her and carefully lift her up. She knew who it was even before her vision could return, and she almost smiled as she let her mind go blank.

* * *

Alexander had to manually put Kara back in the transceiver. She couldn't even find the strength to activate the speakers to talk to him, and tears were threatening to spill down his face as he finally sealed the device and put it in stasis. She had never been in that condition before, not while she was with him. It was him that was supposed to be hurt, not her. She was the strong one, the one that always got him out of trouble. This was her role to protect her partner, not his.

He didn't recall how he got from point A to B. Point A was halfway across the room, where he had been snagged up. From there to where he was standing there were seven mangled bugs, the one that dared to harm Kara currently twitched as its body received broken thoughts from the receptors within its mangled head. Alexander kicked aside the chair he had used on it and quickly reclaimed his discarded guns, then his kukri. Whatever had taken control of him between those two points had been feral; rage wasn't a good enough word to describe it.

It was still there, an emotion burning worse than any other moment he had experienced today, but it was turning against him. _This was his fault. She would be fine if he hadn't done this_. Alexander struggled to bury the thoughts. He would hate himself later when they were not in danger.

He walked around the remnants of the room and exited through the space that had been a wall. The submachine gun was held firm as he turned the corner and quickly scanned the gore-pasted hallway. Nothing was presently alive so the agent moved swiftly until he came across a set of double doors. The gunfire he was after was on the other side, but now he could hear panicked orders and voices.

Alexander realized as he reached for the handle that his armor was covered in blood. His hand slowed as he examined his arm and a smirk crossed his face as he firmly twisted the handle. In his mind, what was happening on the other side of the doors was the last thing that should have been happening.

The room looked like it was a staff lounge meant to overlook the beautiful scenery. Large picture windows took up the furthest wall, all of which had been shot out over the duration of the conflict. A kitchenette was filled with a substantial amount of the wounded, protected by heavy furniture and a half wall. The rest of the room was filled with the dead and the soldiers that still wanted to keep breathing.

Alexander opening the door had to have been a trigger for everything to go wrong at once.

As he did the lights flickered once before glowing brightly as power surged for the last time. Half the lights blew at that moment and the other half simply blinked out of existence, leaving the room in darkness save for the dull glow of the receding sun flooding through the windows. The floodlights outside died and the shadows surged forward unhindered, and with it a dull crimson tide.

The soldiers manning the windows scattered in every direction. The cowards ignored the screaming of their commander and darted out of every exit they could find, some barreling past Alexander without a second of thought. The foolish that didn't abandon the windows immediately became the first to fall as a vicious onslaught of String Shot dragged them through the very windows they pledged to defend, their screams cut short by the bloodlust of their murderers. The few that stayed away from the windows and didn't flee quickly discovered that they didn't have enough ammunition as Ariados began to swarm in from the windows, then the corners and ventilation. The commander was hit from above as web shot down, hit his shoulder, and then dragged him straight to his death in the ventilation.

Most of the wounded could do nothing but scream. The soldiers that were lucid and still had a firearm did their best to fend off the arachnids before they were overwhelmed. A stretcher with a heavily bandaged man who didn't seem to understand what was happening around him was swarmed by the soldiers that didn't flee or immediately die as they defended him. Two grabbed the stretcher at both ends and picked him up as they gave up their position, leaving the rest of the injured as they ran through the doors that Alexander held open.

An Ariados managed to grab ahold of one soldier protecting the man before he could make it. The rest of his squad didn't so much as look back as he was dragged off and swarmed; the same happening to the wounded that had been abandoned.

There was nothing he could do, Alexander realized. It was happening too fast. He made to slam the doors shut, but as he did the picture windows suddenly glowed bright orange; Due to his vision, he didn't see it.

Whatever happened made the entire swarm collectively scream in rage, and moments later the doors shuddered from dozens of impacts. Alexander took it as his time to bolt- his footsteps loud, and fast. He followed the group of survivors down a hallway he had not explored and slowed as they came across a door. The soldiers kicking it off its hinges and as soon as it came down half the group stormed inside while the other half started to move the stretcher again.

"Move it!"

The voice was from the radio, Alexander noted as he stumbled up a new staircase behind them. Someone started screaming further inside the facility. Before it was cut off they were already on the roof.

The furthest ahead made their way to a landing pad, taking defensive positions around it. Flares were lit to keep the darkness at bay and guns started barking at the Ariados that had made their way up to them.

There was a dull thumping sound off in the distance, but its source couldn't be seen through a rising plume of smoke. Alexander dared to get a closer look and the source of the fire became clear. It was a burning truck, parked in the middle of the yard. Fire spread out from the pyre in thin lines, snaking across the lawn and into dense shrubs along the now toppled electric fence. The rising smoke as things started to burn was driving the Ariados away- their main force was now cut in half.

There was total silence on top of the roof as the thumping developed into something more defined. _Chuf-Chuf-Chuf-Chuf..._

The helo parted the smoke and for a brief moment, its windows glowed in the light of the fires. Alexander's brow lowed as it kept emerging from the smokescreen, and he noted with a start that it was a Chinook.

Their savior circled around once, mounted weapons firing into the side of the building to clear off the Ariados. The rear of the aircraft was soon hovering overhead, and the loading ramp began to open as it descended.

The arrival of their evac came with a cost as their attention lapsed. A soldier started shouting over the din as another beside him jerked and collapsed, a Poison Sting lodged in his chest. He opened fire on the assailant only for a strand of silk to strike his leg and rip him off the pad. Alexander didn't wait and tried his best to pick off targets, only for another spine to strike his chest from the shadows. The Ariados were hiding and taking their time picking off the humans while they were in the open.

The stretcher was passing Alexander when the man at the rear was struck by a lethal barb, spilling his charge onto the landing pad as he collapsed. The soldier at the front dropped his end of the stretcher and looked between his fallen comrade and the man, who had started to yell something incomprehensible over the beating rotors. The hesitation in his eyes died as Alexander reached down and scooped up the legs. With his moral fight over, the soldier grabbed the man around the shoulders and helped drag him up the rest of the ramp.

The pitch of the rotors suddenly increased and Alexander felt the floor tilt. The rear of the aircraft began to slide along the launch pad before the rest of the soldiers could board; the closest was the only to notice and broke into a sprint to catch up, abandoning their positions in a mad dash to not be left behind. A shower of sparks glowed in their panicked eyes as two leaped into safety before the helicopter slipped off the pad, its engines beginning to scream as they rocketed skyward.

A volley of attacks crossed the space where they had been moments before, some striking and obliterating the side of the building. Sharp pings could be heard as a few weaker attacks stuck the aircraft, only for a small portion of the side to explode as a Pin Missile struck home. Alexander spun at the sound and was startled to realize that the fuselage wasn't empty by any means, the Chinook was occupied by dozens of soldiers and stretchers already.

Most of them were layered in grime and dust, but that couldn't hide the variety of injuries each one sported. Small cuts to burns to bruises, they adorned the soldiers from a fight Alexander had no intel on. He could almost see the panic in the air as they did everything they could to get out of there, most were using whatever weapon they had to try and drive the Ariados swarm away.

Alexander turned back and regretted looking it as soon as he did. The landing pad was a patch of white in an ocean of red, and the few souls that had not fallen were back to back as they used the last of their ammunition. He could see exactly when they ran dry, and over the sounds of the engines and the swarm, he could swear he heard their screams as they fell under a blanket of crimson bodies.

The facility slowly shrank and fell out of sight, and only when it had did Alexander begin to sway. He reached out and grasped the side of the fuselage tightly, sinking to his knees as the loading ramp slowly cut off his vision of the darkened trees below him, and the bleeding skies above.

In that moment something seemed to erupt in the agent's mind; the fear, panic, and grief that was in the air grew until it was overpowering. His heart was pounding as he looked around slowly, and his scalp prickled as something unexplainable happened to him. There wasn't time to think about it as another migraine came on and threatened to split his head open. He winced and cursed, trying to nurse his head as the noise around him aided in tearing his mind apart.

Something passed by the closest window and was just enough to distract him from his pain. With shaky hands Alexander dragged himself onto a seat and peered out. They passed another skyscraper, then another, and he realized that they were in Hau'oli City. Flashing red and blue was at nearly every street corner, the only signs of life on the streets below. Fires still raged, their smoke illuminated by the lights of the city.

There was a powerless skyscraper that loomed well above the rest of the buildings, a dark spire on the horizon. There were large holes in the building, and the colors of the fading sunset were glowing brilliantly through it.

The scene was familiar and Alexander leaned closer, his brows scrunched together in open curiosity. His pupils dilated to the point where his brown irides were no longer visible, and his heart stopped as his reality shattered.

The thirty-third SABER simulation had been a war-torn city. Alexander found himself there, stumbling as he went from a steel floor to desert sands. Terror seeped from the agent and he fell backward in a hysteric fit, the sand gritty and course against his skin as he scrambled away from the looming skyline. The sun had been setting, and a building at the edge of the horizon glowed from where a rocket had blown a hole through its center. The two building looked exactly the same.

Alexander knew how this ended. He closed his eyes and felt an immediate pressure threaten to cram him further into the sands. He clenched his fists tightly and pried his eyes open. There was a second sun blooming over the city, so bright that he could feel his skin burning already. The energy was expanding, swallowing the city and everything in it. The sands around him were crackling and turning to glass, his clothes began to catch fire as heat baked him on the spot.

One of the many purposes of this simulation had been to teach Alexander that there was a reason why the company had their hands in the nuclear trade. If they didn't, something like this could happen.

They had let him know what it felt like to be baked by a nuclear blast. He had been given the rare opportunity to know what it felt like to die by fire, so Alexander screamed, losing all form of coherent thought as it happened again. It was first his clothes to burn away, then his skin. His eyesight was taken as he charred, and he screamed until his vocal cords burned away, too. The wave of pressurized air was supposed to be the end of the simulation, finally killing him and releasing him from the pain.

When it hit, all the stimulation Alexander felt ended. The pain was cut short, the sounds were muted. A blanket of darkness fell over him and smothered what little consciousness he had left, but the one thing he noticed as his mind blanked was how he couldn't see the ceiling of the SABER laboratory.

* * *

 **Tell me, how am I doing? Is there something I need to work on, like making things clearer or adding more dialogue? Reviews are how I improve, after all.**


	7. What Lies on the Horizon

**Thanks again to Cornova for letting me write this story!**

* * *

 _"...swear I'm not lying! I was in a call with my son just after it happened- the Battle Frontier's a slaughterhouse; all those pokemon went nuts at once and..."_

 _"We've got more MCI survivors incoming- No! From the marina now! We need someone to clear that damn parking lot or we'll lose..."_

 _"...Dad, me and Jake made it off the ship, please pick up when you get this..."_

 _"...ould you want to leave? Look outside! The whole city is starting to fall apart, you think the police will protect us when the next..."_

 _"...hands in the air! Do it, now! Gun! GUN!"_

Connor was hardly out of his drugged stupor and he could already tell the hospital was going to hell. With a groggy yawn the man began to sit up, his vision still blurry as he looked around.

Cots lined the walls of the hallway, the sorry excuses of bedding were only spaced out for doorways. Each one was occupied, and Connor's brow furrowed in disgust as he turned to get off his own cot and stepped in someone's blood with his bare feet. The floor was filthy, blood was streaked along the floor where gurneys had rolled through the mess as dozens of bloody shoeprints adorned the normally sterile, white floors.

There were people everywhere else, taking up what little space remained as they looked for loved ones. The majority ducked as one as if their minds had synched, and Connor flinched as explosive reports filled the air. A couple of people screamed as the crowd began pushing away from the gunfire, streaming through a set of doors beside his cot. Within moments the hallway was empty save a few brave souls that refused to leave their loved ones and a lone officer whose attention was focused down a different hallway.

Slowly the scientist pushed himself further off the cot and felt the skin around his shoulder blade stretch and prickle. A startled gasp was all Connor could manage as he teetered between blinding pain and focusing on not falling face first into the recess of germs around him. Spots danced in his eyes as he carefully slid further and off the cot, managing to stand up without blacking out.

Some sorry excuse for a doctor hadn't given him enough pain killers and Connor found his irritation rising as he spied a nurse peering around the corner at the commotion. He took a couple shaky steps in his direction, but before he spoke the scientist had a startling realization that he was in a hospital gown and his original clothes were no where to be found.

He couldn't remember taking anything off, and for a horrifying moment Connor realized that somebody had stripped him down and seen him nude. It wasn't that he was embarrassed, but that he didn't know if anything besides surgery had happened to him while he was out. He had to deal with a couple of freaks working under him before, some sick bastards that liked alone time with test subjects when they thought he wasn't looking. He didn't question The Company about where they got their grunts, but they had to have known about what that batch was like. Why they didn't warn him about who he was working with upset him but he had managed to solve the issue. Still, the mere thought of possibly being in that position made him light-headed, and because of it, he didn't see someone approaching him.

A hand grabbed his good shoulder and yanked Connor backward, the lack of warning causing him to slip. He started to fall and the hand turned into a vice, keeping him from sinking any further. Any indignation that he could have voiced died as fingernails dug into him. The man began to panic and scrambled for something to grab onto, finding nothing as a few stray people watched with wide eyes as they refused to intervene. The officer at the end of the hallway failed to notice his plight, too involved with whatever had happened to catch the struggle.

The hand tugged upwards and Connor was lifted to his feet. He scrambled and had just managed to get them under him again when a well time shoved knocked him off balance and through a doorway; he barely managed to catch himself on a shelf as he found himself in a small storage room. There was a gagged doctor tied down on the floor at his feet- the one that had admitted Connor into the hospital. The door clicking behind him sounded like a gunshot in his ears so the scientist spun around, not knowing who to expect.

"Connor Steig: Bioweapons expert, microbiologist, biological engineer- you look like you're about to piss your pants, relax."

Connor was looking at another doctor, but he quickly noticed that his ID didn't match his face. Dark skinned, hard eyes, a small tattoo of a Gastly peeking out from under his scrubs. "You were fuckin' hard to find, do you know that you look nothing like the picture we were given? You were some noble-ass man with a stick up his ass, but right now you're a cowering bitch. Two completely different people."

Fire was burning in the scientist's eyes and he spat: "Excuse me, but who do you think you are?"

"Ooh, there's that stick you were missing." The grunt taunted, "Now I recognize you."

Their little spat ended as a walkie talkie on the man's waist sputtered static. "Agent Little G, we don't see you on the cameras. What's your position?"

Little G held up a finger as if to say 'give me a minute' while he answered, infuriating Connor to no end. _What was it with grunts and absolutely no respect?_

"I've found the scientist, no visual on his companion. Hold on-" The grunt looked at Connor, his face serious again, "do you know where Agent Cipher went? We know he left the building late yesterday, but after that we lost his trail."

Connor began to retort when he caught onto what Little G said. "Yesterday? What do you mean, yesterday?"

Gone was the disrespectful grunt, his attitude serious. "At five O'clock yesterday, your only security left you here. Right now it is... four in the morning. Your ass has been out a while, I take it? Anyways, do you know where he could have gone?"

"... not a clue. Why in the hell are you interrogating me? Are you not evac?"

"So you're oblivious and ignorant." Little G snarked, shoving roughly past Connor and stooping over the actual doctor, who tried to squirm away the best he could. The grunt's eyes sparkled darkly as he addressed the man: "Do you want to tell him where our friend is right now?"

When the gag came off the doctor didn't even utter a peep- he just shrank further away and tried to curl himself into a ball. "Aw, look at him pretending to be a Squirtle... its a shame I know how to crack 'em open." With a growl, the grunt stood and booted the doctor in the side. Connor winced as he heard something snap in the man's chest. A guttural yelp escaped him before the boot slammed into the side of his head, silencing him.

Connor slowly slid away from Little G, feeling sick at the outburst of violence. _What was wrong with the Company's grunts?_

The doctor cursed faintly as he was lifted back up and his eyes went wide as a blade was pressed to his neck. Connor himself flinched as the grunt tutted in an annoyed manner as if he were scolding a child. "Do you want to keep this up?"

"N-no, please! We-we didn't have the time! When he came in it was already too late!"

"It sounds like you didn't even try to save him. Am I right?" Little G growled, pressing the metal further into the flesh.

"We couldn't save him! We didn't have the staff or- wait wait wait, wait! His heart was still beating when we put him down there, he could still be-" Little G reared back and slammed his fist into the man's skull with a sickening crack. His head whipped back and the doctor crumpled, leaving the room quiet yet again.

Connor felt a smirk working onto his face despite his reservations. After being threatened, manipulated, and abandoned by that dreg, he felt he got what he deserved. "Alexander's dead? Good." He noticed the surprise cross Little G's face and he wasn't inclined to elaborate; instead he stood taller and watched the new grunt with critical eyes. "I'd like to get out of here now. Lead the way, please."

Unbelieving chuckles escaped the grunt's lips and he shook his head slowly. "You are becoming the worst headache I've ever had to deal with, you know that? Like, most of you arrogant sons of bitches don't quite understand how important us grunts are. We're the ones that're required to document everything and protect your people, and it's taken for granted. We know that Agent Cipher got you here before you bled to death, so please tell me why it's good that a loyal agent like him is dead?"

The scientist scoffed at Little G. "I'm not inclined to tell you anything other than he threatened to kill me to cover up his own rule violations." His eyes narrowed as the grunt stared at him as if he was stupid before his radio beeped.

"Any new intel?"

"None, the package is as oblivious and dense as a Slowpoke. Not surprising, given he's been out for a couple- don't give me that look, you little bitch!" Little G snapped, not tolerating Connor's glare. "He doesn't know shit about why Cipher left, but the damn doctor accidentally informed him about his condition."

"Do you mind filling me in on what I'm oblivious too?" Connor interrupted, fed up with the grunt's attitude to the point where he didn't care if he was interrupting anything.

"Will you just- If you quit talking for just a few fucking minutes I'll give you a couple thousand Poke to spend on yourself, so please just shut the fu-"

"Agent, please refrain from cursing over the line." The radio interrupted, through the voice suddenly sounded distant. "Agent H is... having a difficult time trying to confirm if Cipher is KIA, so can you have Connor look at the CT scans to give us a guess?"

The air in the little room suddenly started to heat as Connor and Little G glared at each other, the former's eyes turning slightly amused and the latter's turning very, very dark. "Sorry for that, but I'm just going to use my psychic powers to guess that Connor's going to say that he's dead."

"Don't joke about that!" The voice snarled, loud and unexpected. Both Connor and Little G flinched at the abrupt uproar, and with its absence, they looked at each other again, but the fight in the grunt's eyes was gone. He pulled a small tablet out of his pocket and powered it on, flicking through it for a moment before turning it so that the scientist could see the screen.

A black and white image was present, and Connor didn't need to even process it as he opened his mouth to answer. As he did a small flash caught his eye and he nearly choked on his own breath as the grunt drew a small, silenced pistol and trained it on him. "You look at it first, prick. You hate this kid for saving you? Fine, but he's one of us, and whatever he did to hurt your feelings will be nothing compared to what I'm about to do to you if you don't do what we want."

Connor swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded. It seemed like he was going to need to be more convincing. With a tense little stand off the scientist pretended to cave, trying to make the grunt feel like he was in control. The scientist knew he was bluffing, he was important after all. His eyes graced the tablet again and he noticed one lightly colored spot within Alexander's brain the size of a penny. It was one hell of a hemorrhage, and Connor realized that the chances of him being alive were not good.

"Agent Cipher might be alive," Connor said, forcing his words. He threw some truth into the fray and intended to follow it with a lie. "Of course, there's always the chance that he didn't survive the initial bleeding, but-"

"He survived." The grunt interrupted, throwing Connor off. "He was alive when the CT scan happened, and he was alive when they declared him legally dead. This place, it doesn't have enough room or resources. They started declaring the people with the lowest chances of survival as dead to conserve what they could for the more stable patients. They did it to Cipher, but-"

"Agent Little G, please evac your charge to the roof. We're pulling out; Agent H has discovered multiple ghost type pokemon residing in the morgue. Cipher has been assumed KIA. His transceiver is not responding, so the chances of any Company exposure are nill. Please evac now, we cannot waste anymore time."

Connor saw a chance and smirked at the grunt, chuckling. "Oh well, we tried. How about you lead the way now?"

Little G stood frozen in time, his pistol still focused on Connor's chest. He couldn't do it. He so badly wanted to pull the trigger on this man, but he was too valuable. Slowly the gun fell to his side and the two stared at each other; the grunt eventually turning away and laying his hand on the door handle. Connor felt victory and started to follow until he heard a faint groan rise from the floor.

"Wait, you have a Class A to deal with."

The grunt froze in place, unmoving as Connor repeated himself. Slowly the man turned and faced him, and it was the dead look in his eyes that made him pause. "Come tomorrow, half this damn city is going to be Class A."

With that, Little G turned and left. Connor's brow dropped and he called out: "What do you mean?" He followed the grunt, hesitantly at first, then quicker as he realized that he wasn't going to stop.

The two passed dozens of cots as they walked, Little G ignoring Connor's inquiries until he stopped abruptly in front of an overflowing tack board. Hundreds of faces and numbers adorned it, all pleas requesting to call a plethora of numbers if one of the faces had been seen. The scientist realized he could hear the grunt's breathing: hard and uneven. He traced a hand over a little girl's face and pulled away as if the image had burned him. He turned sharply and continued on, leaving Connor to wonder what that was about.

The hallway opened up to a large waiting room filled past capacity and the two had to shove their way through. Well, Little G shoved his way through, Connor stuck to his back like glue because he wasn't risking injuring his shoulder. The entire hospital was cramped, he realized, as they traveled up a couple flights of stairs and found themselves shoving through more people many floors up from where they started. He could feel eyes following them everywhere they went, a couple people tried to stop the grunt leading him but where rudely moved aside. The air was hot and thick; it was worsened by how unsanitary the hospital had become as well, iron and body order dominated the hallways.

Then they pushed through another set of doors and the entire scene changed. The hallway was empty, cool, and clean; a relief that Connor verbally expressed in a sigh. He realized that his escort had not stopped and irritation crept into his sigh as he sped up again. He managed to catch up to him, but only because Little G had decided stop where the wall had fallen away to a railing, which allowed them a view at the city around them as the glass exterior of the building was revealed in a modern design. The scientist stopped and looked at the void between them and the exterior, then down a couple of stories where he could see a cafe. Over half the glass panels had been shattered, and with a start, he also noticed large police barricades and fortifications within the cafe. A few officers patrolled the open space, heavily armed with military-grade assault rifles and armor. There were even a couple National Guard uniforms wandering around down there.

"While you were taking a nap this entire city has been coming apart." Little G stated, turning away and motioning to the other visible buildings- some burning or full of gaping holes. "It started at dusk, random attacks started happening everywhere. Mostly in the areas by the forest, but also down at the waterfront. The beaches were shut down, I think a couple of major roadways were destroyed, and the marina was sealed off to keep people from trying to leave. The waters out there has changed, I've personally seen three large boats- shipping freighters and a cruise liner- go ass-up and sink. This city is scared. Martial law was implemented to keep people protected from whatever happens next, but police chatter has told us that a few have outright ignored it. The police can't leave their posts to stop them, and apparently, the low-lifes here know it and have been creating hell."

Connor was silent as a pair of National Guardsmen turned the corner and jogged past, but before he could say anything the grunt continued: "None of it matters, really. We've lost control, Connor. We had a base here, a large one, and it went code black; the bigger issue about it is that it didn't purge. We managed to get some of our agents out, but the ones that we couldn't reported a psychic was attacking. An hour later, the military base near the crest of the mountain went dark on us but reports suggest that our own guys took it over without reporting it to us."

"We can get reinforcements to deal with that, can't we?" Connor asked after a while, the two in the process of slogging up a flight of stairs.

"It's only us." A voice directly behind him said, causing the scientist to startle and trip on a stair. A firm, gloved hand snatched him from his rapid descent and hoisted him up, and up, and suddenly Connor found himself being slung over the shoulder of a very large man. A soldier, none the less.

"How bad was it, H?"

"I managed to count six bogies before I had to duck out. Cipher doesn't stand a chance.."

"Connor, meet Agent H. He fought like hell to be carrying your ass, so quit being a baby and accept fate."

"So this is Connor? I'm sorry about your guard- we managed to pick him up on the way here, but my judgment got him killed. He was having seizures and by the time we managed to get here he was too far gone for me to do anything. I thought that this staff could help him, bu-"

"Don't apologize to the asshole, he wanted him dead."

"...Your mouth will get you in trouble one day." Was all Agent H said before falling silent. His grip digging into Connor's side was the only thing that the scientist could go off of, but he made the assumption that he was just as volatile as the other grunt.

Connor stayed silent, feeling that provoking them any further would be a bad idea, seeing how he had achieved what he had wanted in the end. Although, the fact that the two grunts had skirted around his question raised more questions.

They could get reinforcements, right? Yes, the company had suffered a catastrophic loss, but the exposure of the organization had to be high on their priorities. There shouldn't be any other matters more pressing than that.

The outside air was more acidic than it should have been. Hundreds of fires were lighting up the night as dark smoke reached for the darkness, only to fade into oblivion. There were sirens all over the city, small cracks of gunfire here and there that went unheard as the beating of rotors drowned it out. A Chinook, the same one that had airlifted Alexander, was waiting for them, it's rear ramp open.

Most of the soldiers from before were still there, loyally protecting their transport. They were Company grunts, insurgents that had been controlling the region's military. A few were even from the lost base.

The few soldiers that were not Company were lined up in a neat row inside the helicopter, restrained and unconscious. The grunts didn't have it in them to execute the lot, not after knowing them personally for years, and especially considering they needed good little soldiers in the following months to come.

The unfortunate doctors that had been called up to deal with the wounded would never be seen around the hospital again. They were held at gunpoint as they worked to save the professor's life and the lives of the many other wounded.

Then Connor was dropped into a seat next to a much larger grunt armed with a light machinegun that he didn't recognize. He cursed as one of his stitches threatened to tear free and held his back. He looked up to see his two escorts talking with another man, and it clicked why their codenames were so silly. Little G had a tattoo of a Gastly, H had a Haunter, and if he was correct, then the third man was going to be named Big G, judging from the Gengar peaking out from the cuff of his uniform.

A few of the gagged soldiers caught his eye, and with annoyed curiosity, Connor interrupted the three's conversation: "Hey, what in the hell is going on with the Class A's around here? You're breaking protocol."

Every single person was looking at him now. Their reactions were of surprise, annoyance, and impatience.

Big G's was one of impatience, and as the helicopter began to take off he moved over to the smaller man and crouched down to his level. "There's been some changes in management lately. New rules, too. We don't have to terminate Class A's anymore."

Connor leaned back, sweat starting to appear on his brow. It should have been obvious all along that something wasn't right. "This is a rogue unit, isn't it?"

A frown, then Big G was sitting next to him and adjusting a small device on his wrist. "There's no such thing as rouge anymore. Any surviving Company member is allowed to do whatever they want, and whenever they please: all in the name of survival. We're together in this because there isn't anywhere to go, and nowhere to run. We're almost extinct."

A hologram shot from the grunt's wrist and Connor paled as text and images crossed the screen. "We've lost all contact with Johto; the entire region is beginning to burn and our bases have been unresponsive. Goldenrod City and the Radio Tower have fallen, so all civilian and military communications have fallen in the surrounding regions. Global communications are being targeted and are collapsing; satellites are dropping like flies and we've gotten confirmation that Rayquaza has been targeting them. On a good note, our satellites have gone unnoticed, thankfully."

The grunt continued as if Connor wasn't losing all color in his face or trembling like a leaf in the wind. "Major metropolitan areas like Hearthome, Goldenrod, Sunnyshore, and dozens more have been annihilated with no confirmed survivors. We are in the midst of a Code Black Cataclysm and our goal is to survive it. Going rogue is no longer possible because there is no longer anything to run to. There is only us left, and I hope you understand that there will not be many replacements to keep you alive if we keep dying."

Connor nodded, not hearing what the gunt said next but nodding to that as well. He was left alone, and the scientist began to weep. His parents lived in Hearthome, it was the city he grew up in. To learn that it was gone, that they were gone...

Everything was gone. He had read the updated message from HQ. There was nothing left of his life. His past: gone; his future: gone. There was only right now, in this helicopter surrounded by people that he couldn't associate with.

A small streak of light flashed passed the window nearest to him, and the scientist flinched. Another flash happened, then another. The entire fuselage had grown silent, and many faces were peering to watch something unfold. Connor himself was drawn to it, despite his turmoil, and found himself not understanding what he was seeing.

There was one building that had been taller than the rest. It had survived the worst of the outbreak to transmitting data all across the region, connecting the islands so that everyone would know what was going on. It wasn't unlike the Radio Tower, the two buildings connected large amounts of people across large distances, and it fell for the exact same reason. Fire engulfed the building, every window was blown out and raging as another rocket struck it near the top, blowing off the top floors and scattering flaming debris across the entire city.

"Was this the contingency plan?" Connor heard somebody ask hesitantly. There was silence as the building burned, a pillar of fire brighter than anything else on the horizon.

"It was all we could do." A voice replied. It seemed to echo in the fuselage as the city began to shrink from site, the waves below reflecting the flames into warped, twisted variations of the city. Connor looked from the city's skyline to the inky waves below, and amidst the glowing reflections, he could swear that he saw the future of the entire planet below him, burning in a shroud of darkness.

* * *

 **I know this chapter is shorter than the previous ones, but it was a necessary installation. Did you see anything that I missed? Any suggestions for how I can improve, or things you want to see? Let me know, a review is appreciated!**


	8. Ghosts

SABER was real.

It wasn't made up of only ones and zeros- actual memories were sewn throughout the simulations; people that experienced war, violent crime, and catastrophic injury had donated their recollections of such events unwittingly when they went to Company backed trauma clinics- places with the best reputations and recovery turnouts. Those memories were what made the program real. You could feel the heat of fires, the agony of a gunshot wound, the sweat from a cold cup in a hot day. The environment adapted to everything you did, and you could spend days lost in a program as it ran its course. Who you really were came out in those programs, and the Company would judge if you were worthwhile.

The drawbacks came out later when people that went through it started experiencing lucid flashbacks stemming from those simulations. Memories that were programmed in would manifest at random in a person's mind, altering their perceptions and creating false memories that conflicted with their daily routines. It caused violent outbursts over the smallest of details, yet, it was only really noticed during psych evaluations much later: traumatic stress had cut down on production and efficiency with no visible root cause; the subjects' grasp on reality started faltering and was conflicting with missions; a wide variety of personality disorders began to crop up in healthy people.

SABER was eventually deemed at fault and shut down- left to be forgotten and ignored, and anyone that asked or looked for it was told that it simply had never existed. It was real, no matter how bad The Company wished it wasn't. It was real because out of all the lives it ruined, it had saved Alexander's.

* * *

 _Gunshots drummed down the halls like an endless thunder as they shuddered, nearly throwing him off his feet as another explosion rocked the facility. The child catches himself and keeps running, blood staining his white clothes as he holds a crying bundle of cloth tightly against his chest. These hallways were once quiet, bright, and cold; they are everything that they were once not, confusing and scaring him in ways that he had not yet known he could be. It was all new, different. Unorganized and chaotic._

 _Then, he sees something that he is very, very familiar with. The grunt, a man wearing white armor with darker armor hiding behind the plating, is wearing a helmet that covers his eyes with a silly visor that leaves the rest of his face exposed. The two see each other at the same time, and the man shouts: "Return to your cell!"_

 _There is no going back, only forward. There is nothing behind him but the people that had once studied him with metal tools and clipboards and sour tasting liquids, and a man that claimed to know him who had made the mistake of bringing a knife into his cell with the intent to kill him before he could be found._

 _In the darkness, the grunt fails to see the blood coating the child's white clothes, as well as the loud, metal tool in his hand until it is too late. The child is holding the gun wrong so it flies out of his hand when it fires, but his aim is true and the bullet strikes the man's armor and knocks him onto his rear._

 _Running past the gasping man the child ducks under a fallen pipe and down crippled hallways, counting doors as he goes. He doesn't know when or how he learned this, but there is a service elevator on this floor that leads out of the facility. It isn't far, and he hopes that he is right as the shouting from the grunt grows louder and is accompanied by more voices- he had angered them by ignoring their commands and killing their friends._

 _There was no choice, he reminds himself as he feels blood running from his cheek, they were going to keep putting them in cold, dark tubes and injecting them with fire until they were satisfied. If they did not grow tired first and kill them._

 _Loud groan echoes across the facility and the lights flicker again. Whatever was happening, it wasn't good._

 _The elevator appears before him, it's lighting the only steady source in the facility. A loud bang echoes behind him and the child feels the air ripple by his head; a glass pane beside the doors explodes into dust in retaliation. He ducks and grits his teeth as he runs through the mess barefoot, focused more on the banging behind him and the sharp pings erupting around him as the metal dents from unseen impacts. He makes it inside and the doors close behind him, sealing his fate as the elevator begins to ascend._

 _He doesn't have comforting words for the crying bundle in his arm so he rocks it gently, trying to put his mind on something familiar instead of all the new, terrifying things around him. He stops abruptly as he notices that the sides of the elevator are clear, and he can suddenly see that he is in a large expanse of concrete._

 _The source of all the noise becomes clear, but he doesn't understand what he is seeing. Large flames erupt from canisters and containment cells. Grunts in the armor he recognizes are fighting a different group of humans dressed in black, using their guns and monsters to fight. The new humans came prepared, and their weapons are much, much different than the ones the grunts are using. Their monsters are different too, stronger. Large machines that the child has never seen before are also in the fray- some are burning, others are attacking the grunts, and some are even attacking the building itself._

 _With horrified silence he watches all the new, scary things annihilating the grunts he knows. All were bad and never had anything nice to do or say to him, but they were all he knew. A particularly large explosion shakes the entire complex, and right before he sees what caused it a sudden ding within his little bubble goes off, and he turns sharply to the doors._

 _He goes running through them but stops dead as they open, revealing a monster that blocks the entire frame. The child has not seen this one before, and its sheer size causes him to whimper and try to press the button that closes the doors. It reaches out as they do, grabbing each metal panel and tearing them off before the child can escape._

 _Realizing that he couldn't go back down he runs straight into the behemoth, slipping under it before it can grab him. Two steps are as far as he gets before something flashes brighter than any light fixture he had seen yet, blinding him. A roar directly behind him deafens him as well, and all he can do is feel the floor tremble as something happens around him, and all he can see is a blinding white before it vanishes and something is grabbing his shoulders gently._

 _It is another human, he thinks, but he cannot tell under the armor. He doesn't understand what he is saying, but his words are soft and not threatening. A monster hovers above his form, as that is all he can see in the dim light, and his eyes travel to it. It begins to glow._

* * *

Another bright flash of light and Alexander is looking at a tile ceiling when he comes to. _Out of any flashback, it had to be that one._

The grunt closes his eyes as his body catches up with his mind- had he been hit by a truck? His body reacts slowly to his demands, and a dull roar has settled down in his bones as he tries to move. _Breath, you've been through worse._

The grunt tries to tell himself that but isn't very convinced. It was his head; nothing before now hurt like this. If the power of a hurricane could be contained then it was trapped within his skull, pressing against its confines to free itself. It wasn't as sharp as the migraines he had been experiencing, but the pressure more than made up for it.

Alexander closes his eyes and blinks a few times, but goes still as something cold touches his leg. The sensation jumpstarts his body and he forgets his pain with a jolt of adrenaline. He sharply sat up, nearly fainting as blood rushes to his head, but he ignores it and yelled the first thing that comes to mind: "Your damn hands are cold!"

Haunter is a well known and feared pokemon. Every pokedex entry on them warned trainers of their predatory nature, where they could reside, and how they were an evil pokemon that generally wanted to kill you. Most of it was folklore; the ghosts were very dangerous but outright harmless to nearly everything. How such data was scientifically accepted befuddled the Company- Haunter were almost huggable. The frustrating thing was that most of them resided around human settlements and knew they had a reputation to uphold, giving them a misplaced sense of pride that they enjoyed.

It turned out that science didn't know everything about them: They could be startled; they yipped when startled.

Alexander looked up at the gas pokemon, who had fled all the way to the ceiling. Its normally purple coloration slowly turned to a light pink before it turned and started barking at a small audience of ghost pokemon that were starting to make one hell of a racket. He counted two Ghastly, another Haunter, and a Misdreavus in the crowd, all taunting their fellow ghost, who had turned a deep pink as this was going on.

 _You're embarrassed_. Alexander realized, and a moment passed while the group continued taunted their unfortunate friend that the grunt took to look around. It was startling to realize he was in a morgue, laying on a steel table in a row of occupied tables. The room was dimly lit, but he could see many body bags lined and stacked in a corner; it was a clear violation of ethical code and law, but not the first. He was down there and breathing, after all. He was down to the base suit of his armor, and with an unsurprising revelation, he noted his weapons were also missing.

They were probably in storage lockers, but Alexander couldn't see where they could be due to a couple of curtains blocking off part of the room. He didn't recall how he got here and being prepared couldn't hurt, so with his priorities affirmed the grunt dared to test his legs. They felt like lead, but he managed to drag them off the table. Pins and needles worked through them as blood started flowing again, and with a grunt, he waited for a dizzy spell to pass before testing his weight on them. A faint smile crossed his face as he was greeted with success, but it faltered as a cold hand grabbed his shoulder and forced him back onto the table.

"Did you forget about us?" The Haunter asked, drawing out the sentence as if Alexander were slow. It- he, tapped the human's forehead a couple times and smiled, giving him a nice view of the gas pokemon's teeth and beyond. The scare tactic failed as he focused more on how the pokemon was speaking to him, and how he had forgotten that they existed within a couple seconds. With raised brows he nodded, causing the ghost's smile to waver slightly before it grew even larger. "Well we can't have that now, can we?"

A cold snap filled the room and it felt like liquid nitrogen filled Alexander's veins. With a startled gasp a clawed, purple hand plunged out his chest and waved at him. In the same moment the light flicked off, and only a red pair of eyes looked down at him gleefully.

Silence. A trickle of sweat ran down his temple as Alexander locked his jaw; not a peep escaping him as the other Haunter's hand rooted around his chest. It stilled and retracted from him as disappointment spread among the ghosts. The Misdreavus muttered something and the Common-speaking Haunter sighed, his own annoyance clear in his eyes. The lights turned back on and the human had a moment to see him reaching forward before sharp claws tapped his head slightly harder

Alexander barely felt it. He continued to watch the ghost in front of him, his expression blank as he tried to comprehend what type of a situation he was in. The Haunter scowled and looked over his head. "You might be right. Hey, are all the gears turning up there?"

He asked, once again putting a claw against Alexander's head to get a rise out of him.

Something was wrong. He didn't know what was wrong exactly, so the grunt examined every inch of the phantom as if he would have the answer hidden in his form. Unsurprisingly, he didn't find it there, and even if had been written out for him he wouldn't have comprehended it. His head hurt too much to properly think; coherent thought was nearly impossible. Due to this Alexander just couldn't find the energy to care about where he was. Woke up in a morgue? He didn't care. Ghosts trying to taunt and torment him? It was falling flat. Being physically assaulted and embarrassed by one of them? He'd been through worse.

Alexander felt the presence of the ghosts behind him weaken as they lost interest, but the one that spoke Common appeared far from done. He had cost him his pride after all, and pokemon acted the exact same way as humans when it was damaged.

Haunter sank down until he was eye to eye with Alexander. A whispy appendage grasped his shoulder lightly and sat there, its temperature seeping into him and causing the grunt to shiver. "Come on, I know something has to be working in that thick skull of yours. I'll gladly take a look myself if I must."

Shivering, Alexander feels the faintest bit of annoyance. Haunter wasn't intimidating, not after what he had seen. "That would be a disaster, and your hands are _absol_ utely freezing, so please let go of my arm."

"Oh! You do functi- was that a pun?" The Haunter's hand dropped from Alexander's shoulder; the ghost's face was full of surprise. The human himself was startled that he came up with one so easily, and he found himself quietly nodding as he whispered:

"What? It can't be that _Farfetch'd_." The Haunter floated back a bit, his agape mouth slowly turning into a grin. It was an amused one, and not the threatening one that Alexander had been looking at for the last minute or two. "I see you're not so _Krabby_ anymore, so do you mind if I stand?"

He laughed, and it echoed. The other ghosts grew quiet and Alexander felt them approach as the temperature began to plummet again. "He works! And he can make some great puns!"

The crowd was back just as soon as they had left; their previous plans are seemingly forgotten as they waited. They were waiting.. for him? To make another pun? He froze, not expecting them to be back so quickly, and felt himself choke. His mind, as scattered as it was, started scrambling for something else to use. "I, uh... sorry, sorry. I _Machoke_ when I'm thrown into the spotlight like this."

A couple chuckles let Alexander know that he wasn't falling flat. He scrambled for something else to use when the Misdreavus muttered something that the group didn't find popular. "You don't need to be so _Tentacruel_ to him, he's fun!" Haunter said, his own pun getting a couple snickers.

Alexander smiled despite himself. He should be trying to formulate a plan to get out of there and away from the ghost types, but he was starting to like them. "You can _Shelder_ your ears if these puns are getting to you."

"It isn't the puns; she's _Grumpig_ that you didn't scare earlier."

"Does she want me to stop this _Spheal_ now?"

The Misdreavus groaned and Haunter frowned. "They're not that bad!"

Alexander allowed his eyes to wander and immediately recalled that he was still in a morgue full of corpses. _Why in the hell am I forgetting everything?_ The grunt's mood shift was easy to notice as he looked around, his smile collapsing as he closed his eyes to fight a new wave of nausea.

A clawed finger tapped his jaw lightly and pushed his head up; his vision wholly taken up by Haunter, who was looking down at him with a frown. "Chin up, human. You're awake and talking, right? That's a whole lot better than the other ones they've put down here."

The change in seriousness left the room awkwardly quiet. Alexander nodded in agreement- he was very much alive, and his migraine couldn't make him wish otherwise, no matter how badly it made him want to drive his head into a wall.

"Why they thought you were dead is beyond me; your head is a bit banged up, but you managed to wake up at least so you're probably going to be fine."

The migraine would have argued.

If the Haunter was going to continue talking about how lucky Alexander was, it never happened as a new voice spoke up from behind the human. He didn't know what the Gengar said, but it visibly changed the demeanor of the ghosts around him. Eyes narrowed and teeth bared; the Haunter that spoke Common looked downright furious. They started chatting at each other before abruptly leaving him behind, angry voices that he couldn't understand trailed off one by one behind him; the grunt turned and watched as they vanished through the wall.

Haunter tapped his shoulder as he passed, hovering overhead so that Alexander had to look up to him. "Woulda liked to talk longer, but there's important business we need to attend to. Your stuff is in the third, fourth, and sixth lockers." Without any further explanation he too vanished, leaving him completely and suddenly alone.

What business it was that took them away, nobody human knew. At least, not yet. How they left, however, rang more than a few warning bells for those that knew they had been there. There was rarely anything that could drag them away from a 'fun' human, much less at such speed.

The room remained silent, and it was a couple of minutes later when it started heating up without the ghosts' presence, and a couple more before anything started moving.

Alexander didn't trust that they were completely gone, but sitting on a cold, metal table any longer wasn't going to do anything for him. He slid off the table for the second time and took a couple of hesitant steps, looking back for any signs that his phantom friends were going to come back. Nothing.

He began again, shaking off nausea and the urge to vomit as he stumbled across the room and through the curtains. With Haunter's information, he finds his equipment easily. It looks like hell, but it works, and with a final click the last plate of armor seals shut. Alexander takes time to look over his weapons next. Nothing was out of order so he slipped the pistol into his suit and slung his submachinegun over his shoulder. The kukri came next, hidden within a space in his armor; the ammunition for it all was stashed in every available space allowed in the suit's design.

The luster of the transceiver glinted off the harsh lighting and took Alexander's breath away. His recollection of everything before the hospital comes flooding in, and he shudders as he wonders how he managed to forget it. It is made worse because he does not know how long it had been since Kara had gone into stasis. If her injuries were too much...

The desert that represented Alexander's emotional state flooded and was lost under a sea of despair and fear. Taking a breath to steady himself from the sudden onslaught he slammed his helmet on and left the morgue, kicking open the steel door. He cursed a couple of times as he immediately hit another steel door, locked and lacking any response when he banged on it.

Cursing at the door as if it had insulted him, the grunt backed away a couple of paces and grasped his SP90. With little care for what could be on the other side he began firing into the lock mechanism, then the hinges. Each report was incredibly loud in the tight space, and the shearing of metal on metal followed the echo down the hallways. Alexander lowered his gun and reared back; his kick striking dead center and launching the door from its frame. The bottom caught and it fell, clattering to the ground as it landed without grace.

A short, empty hallway greeted him, ending in a T-junction. When he approached the intersecting hallway he raised his weapon and pressed himself against the wall, clearing one direction before swinging around to gain eyesight of the rest of the hallway.

"Freeze!"

An officer blocked his path, his body hidden behind a clear ballistic shield while the barrel of a pistol peeked around the side. He was expecting him: wearing body armor, and judging from the crackling radio on his hip he had already radioed reinforcements.

Alexander made a choice at that moment. The armor wouldn't hold against his rounds- the shield might protect him for a moment or two at the most. With careful precision he slipped his hand off the grip and away from the trigger, holding it out and to the side.

"I'm Interpol. Please lower your-"

Many, many people knew what it looked like to be staring down the barrel of a gun as it discharged. Of course, nearly none of them survived long enough to describe it, but they knew the flash of light as the gunpowder ignited, the flames that erupted from the barrel as the copper exited, and how there seemed to be a halo around the gun at the moment before they died. There were a few infamous photos of it: giving people a decent idea of what it looked like in those final moments. The only inaccurate part of those photos was they didn't show how bright it was.

The HUD flickered and the faceplate splintered as the halo of fire wafted away from the pistol. The impact of the round snapped Alexander's head back and he stumbled backward, too startled to say anything as another bullet stuck his chest plate, and then another. He raised his arm to protect his neck; barely protecting the chink in his armor as a bullet struck his protected flesh instead. He tripped as he fell back, sprawling across the tile as he found his grip on his main weapon again.

"The Possessed is wearing armor! Who put a soldier-"

The officer's update was cut short by his own screaming as a much bigger round than what he was prepared for cut through his leg. He toppled, squalling all the way down as he lost his grip on his pistol. His shield stayed attached to his arm, mostly because of straps, and it saved him from the next couple slugs that came his way.

Alexander gasped and sucked in a breath as he sits up. His hands trembled slightly as he kept the business end of his gun trained on the fallen officer. The man whimpered and tried to scoot over to his pistol, reaching out from behind his shelter to try and grab it. He yelped and yanked his arm back to safety as around stole the gun out from under his grasp, ruining it and sending fragments of metal scattering across the smooth tiles.

The grunt huffed a couple of times and pushed himself to his feet, the thought of killing the officer floating around in his head. _It would take too much time. Reinforcements are coming anyway- killing him won't do anything except make them want to hunt him down._

The officer sounded like he was praying through his hushed whimpering, and if he heard the grunt departing he didn't show it. Alexander struggled to keep his pacing even as he walked down the opposite path, clearing corners as he followed signs leading to another part of the building.

He faintly heard shouting from where he had departed and sped up, turning a corner and almost running into a pair of surgeons walking out of a brightly lit room. To them, he clearly wasn't a soldier or anyone that was supposed to be back there: Different armor, different weapons, a bullet sticking out of his helmet.

It didn't take any more than a motion of the barrel to convince them to go back into their room.

Alexander continued on, passing operating rooms until he found himself outside the surgery wing. Dozens of people looked up at him- the entire waiting room- and their expressions all went from hopeful to confused to scared within the time it took for the doors to close behind him. The two officers that were guarding the door were the most startled by his appearance, and despite what their radio chatter said they let him walk. There were too many ways the situation could have soured, and in an overcrowded room full of unarmed civilians they didn't want that blood on their hands if a gunfight erupted. So they stood aside and let him pass, everyone did, and as soon he found himself pushing his way past a partially barricaded fire escape.

Sirens wailed all across the city as ash fell from the sky like snow. Fires still raged out of control, and a flaming tower on the horizon slowly imploded in on itself: vanishing from sight in an orange plume of dust. Some of the streets were impassible, buried under yards of debris or cut off by abandoned police barricades. A few helicopters were buzzing around with loudspeakers, warning people to stay indoors and abide by the curfew that martial law had instilled. People were ignoring it, judging from the gunfire and looted businesses.

Alexander weaved his way through a quiet street filled with abandoned cars, scanning dark alleyways and the skies for threats when he passed the large wreck that had congested the street. The roadway cleared immediately, save for police tape and a seemingly forgotten cruiser. Its lights were still flashing, reflecting off the remaining windows on the street, but there were no officers on the scene.

He heard metal scrape along the asphalt just behind him and ducked, the air above his head whistling as something passed through it while someone behind him grunted in surprise as their effort was met with failure. Alexander twisted and without hesitation let a stream of bullets fly. The point blank assault lifted the assailant off the ground and into a car, a tire iron clattering to the ground before more footsteps came from different directions.

A bullet pinged off Alexander's armor and set off a car alarm as he fired back. The grunt's returning spray threw the gunman to the ground, and as he hit the pavement a third person came roaring out of the darkness wielding a bloodied baseball bat. He made to swing when Alexander's boot came up and struck his sternum. The impact knocked him off his feet and onto his rear, then his back as he fell over to hold his devastated ribs.

He was silenced with a pull of the trigger, and Alexander scanned the area again for more looters. With no other souls in sight, he moved on as if the bloodshed hadn't happened, climbing into the police cruiser and checking over the tools on hand.

The radio was overloaded with orders and updates from around the city, so much so that he turned it off to cut out the drone. A laptop sat open in the passenger seat; the grunt began to scroll through it looking for the GPS app. It was a waste of time finding it because the stupid thing wasn't working, and more than a couple minutes were lost waiting for the loading icon before it crashed and said there wasn't service.

 _It was the biggest city in Alola, how did it not have service?_

* * *

It was six in the morning, and the Pokemon Center was an absolute madhouse.

The outside looked like it was in the process of being made into a fortress: a co-op between the local police and National Guard. The entire block was sectioned off from the rest of the city with dozens of vehicles were being used as improvised blockades to do so. The windows and walls of the center were being reinforced with military grade steel plating, and the roof had an easy dozen men setting up reinforcements of their own, as well as sniper nests.

The police and Guardsmen were heavily armed and jumpy, but arriving in a police cruiser with Interpol identification was enough to get them to relax around Alexander. He threw up an act that came off as professional, but no sooner had he entered the center did it crumble.

The inside of the center was a complete and total mess. What might have been a cafe at one point had been completely changed into a sick bay, and within it were both humans and pokemon. The waiting area was crowded with civilians that didn't need immediate medical assistance and were there for their pokemon, some of which were out of their balls and wandering around, completely unharmed. Many were stuck in groups socializing while their trainers yelled at broken video phones, watched the news on the many, many televisions, or crowded around some officers barking orders into radios. Desptite the crowd there still wasn't enough bodies to cover the bloodstains and damage from whatever had happened within the building when things came apart.

There were no Joys in sight, and Alexander had to do a double take when he saw a kid half his age run by in pink volunteer clothes. There were dozens of them, now that he counted. Pink uniforms were intermingled with the sick bay and the waiting area, giving out medicine and rushing around.

Despite the sheer number of people in the center, Alexander had no issues getting to the front desk. The crowd parted like water for him; nobody wanted to get in the way of the armored giant that looked like he had been put through a meat grinder. Hushed whispering slowly spread among the people he passed; By the time he made it to the desk the volume had dropped, and when he looked back over half the building was watching him.

When Alexander turned back a volunteer had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, eyeing him nervously. A Mismagius flanked him, hovering slightly higher so it looked like he was wearing a wide, flowing hat. There was an energy that emanated off of it- one that seemed to show its age without asking and scream its power without speaking. The luster of its gems was nearly blinding, and he almost missed the volunteer's question as he met the ghost's gaze.

"Can I help you?"

Alexander's eyes trailed from the ghost and settled on the kid. A kid. A pale, scared child was manning the front desk.

"I need to talk to a Joy."

"You can't. The head Joy is resting, and the others are busy tending to pokemon. What do you need, Sir?"

 _Don't call me Sir._

"My partner is in critical condition. If the Joys are not available then I need you to..." The Mismagius was looming over the volunteer now, watching Alexander intently. It blinked and looked down at his hands before its eyes glowed a faint blue. There was a harsh tug on his wrist that yanked his arm up, and something he hadn't noticed snapped off and floated up to its face for closer inspection.

It was a plastic, grey tag that was slightly larger than a credit card. The Mismagius analyzed it before it vanished in a puff of smoke, and its eyes once again tried to pierce his soul in its search for something.

"I'm sorry about that- Kauane, give it back." Kauane looked down at the volunteer, its trainer, and laughed. His eyes narrowed and Alexander had a start when the trainer started chastising it like it was a child: "Come on, that's the fifth thing you've stolen since we got here! I'm sorry about this; since everything started she's-"

Alexander waved a hand and cut off the exasperated trainer. "I can live without it. Now, _my partner_. If there's nobody available then I can help her myself." He didn't have time for needless conversation, and without any further conversation, he walked along the length of the counter.

Kauane responded to Alexander's statement with a faint smirk. It faded as he went from being in front of the counter to behind it, and she moved slightly closer to her trainer as he stammered that the grunt wasn't allowed back there as he shoved open the door leading deeper into the facility.

"You're not allowed back there- he's not allowed back-" The door clicked behind him, and Alexander took a breath as the empty room greeted him. He passed computers, various medical technology, and doors leading to the nurses' sleeping quarters as he walked; then through another doorway and into the recovery wing. A few nurses looked up from their work as he passed- all were busy dealing with injured to try and pursue him, so he strode unhindered through the facility.

The machine he was after was near the back, between the emergency wing and where he was now. It was meant for pokemon like Rotom, who needed a special environment and operation to recover. Alexander wasn't certain, but he thought that they couldn't be healed like other pokemon; they were not organic, so the medicine had to be administered differently.

He found the station he was after. He immediately began to set it up for a transfer and popped open a second, smaller panel near the killswitch on his transceiver. A cord was neatly packed away and was only compatible with machines like this and irreplaceable if damaged. Taking it he found the correct jack on the machine and plugged it in, tapping the screen and paling as the feedback started coming in. Swiping it away he found the procedures that were needed and quickly entered in the confirmation prompt, not realizing that he was looming over the screen until a hand gently touched his shoulder.

Something croaked within the suit that was not the soldier from the lobby. His eyes were burning and his throat was swelling up. He hung his head and strengthened his grip on the corners of the machine to avoid crying, silently cursing himself for his weakness. He needed to stay strong. He couldn't falter now.

Alexander took a quiet breath and forced his emotions away. He leaned back and turned, to spent to do anything. The volunteer had followed him, probably from the moment he had left the lobby, and he let his arm drop once he was certain he could be heard.

"When you're done here, we need you up front. There's something happening and the NG's and police are losing their minds. They're scaring the younger kids."

Alexander felt a chill go down his spine as he focused on Kauane, who resided beside the volunteer. She was fidgeting in place and wasn't looking at either of the two, but more so where they had come from. Call him crazy, but the ghost looked nervous. What could make her nervous, he had no idea, but there was a sinking pit in his stomach that told him he was going to find out.

* * *

 **What are your thoughts on this chapter? Things are going to finally start affecting more than just Alexander, and the next chapter should be a fun one. Tell me what you think: is there anything I should improve? Am I doing fine? Should I have more confidence in myself? Only you can tell me!**


	9. A State of Emergency

"The city is under attack."

Five words boomed around the Center's lobby and silenced the crowd. The man that spoke was the assistant chief of police, in person, flanked by many senior officers. They looked beaten in their bandages and bloodied uniforms but still stood tall by a hastily constructed communications center. If he had done a better job at hiding the nervous twitch in his crossed arms, he might have appeared as calm as he had wanted to. Assistant Chief looked around again, letting the words sink and spoke before the whispering could grow too loud:

"The coastline was targeted and our relief efforts within the marina and the beaches have been destroyed. We fear that the attack will move inland and deeper into the city, where we are now. Our forces have been spread thin trying to keep the peace, and many cannot leave their posts without leaving the city open for another attack. Because of this, the Hau'oli Police Department, and the alolan government as a whole, needs your help in repelling this attack. If you want to keep your friends safe, as well as the fine citizens of this city, then please step forward."

Alexander didn't blame the locals for trying to recruit trainers; he definitely wasn't surprised. The department had to have owned a pokemon storage system, and whatever came out of that, plus hostile looters and everything else that was happening, had no doubt had killed too many of their officers to still be an effective force. He didn't know the story about the National Guard- they might not have suffered as much, but their numbers alone couldn't fill in the space from what was lost.

Trainers were the next best thing outside of law enforcement and the military. If the trainers were good, then sometimes they were even better than law enforcement. If said trainer were in the right place at the right time, then they were the best thing you could get. The last couple cataclysms had been solved by trainers: children with a couple pokemon, and a lot of spirit. No grand weapons, no training, just children that were still wiping their mothers' milk off of their chins. It had baffled The Company that toddlers were getting ahead of them in containing such incidents, and because it kept reoccurring they doubled down on hiring and preparing field agents to observe and contain incidents before civilians could get involved. It had been too early to tell, but Alexander's work had gotten busier so it must have been somewhat effective.

A few seconds of silence strayed after the request, but four trainers stepped away from the crowd and to the line of officers. Six more followed, and a faint grin crossed the Assistant Chief's face as even more broke away from the group and volunteered. "Thank you all for volunteering to protect our beloved city; when the day breaks you will be honored by the Alolan Monarch personally- your willingness to help will not be overlooked."

Alexander found himself noticing the officers inside the communication center. They looked slick with sweat, even from his place across the center, and he couldn't hear them over the growing din, but he could see their jerky movements and how some of their cohorts left the table and exited the center in a blind run. Through one of the final windows that wasn't blocked off, he saw a couple of military vehicles pull away swiftly, and in their space a couple more filled in.

A guardsman came by and nudged the grunt slightly, interrupting his attention on the spewl and the much quieter panic. "You're that Interpol agent... Markus? We're mobilizing now. You're on Beta Squad; they're out front and are leaving in ten. The squad's in the, uh, fourth truck."

Alexander stood there quietly, processing the responsibility that had been dropped on him. He felt growing anger swell within him, but the guardsman had waited a couple seconds for a response and scowled when he didn't get one. "Did you not get the memo?"

"No." He replied shortly.

Whoever the guardsman was, he lacked patience. "Did you hit your head? You just got the memo, now move it!"

 _Yes, actually, and it hurts like hell._

His cover files had placed him in this situation- one he didn't want to be apart of, and he was not going to deal with a _guardsman_ of all people trying to order him around. The grunt leaned back against a counter and raised his eyebrows, even if it was lost behind his helmet. However, his posture easily managed to convey a challenge to the man.

The air between the two grew sharp as the guardsman came to face him directly. The volunteer, who broke his attention away from the recruitments, stood frozen as he looked between the two; he was uncertain on how to diffuse the situation before Kauane whispered something quietly.

Alexander felt something strange come over him. His skin prickled as a cool sensation spread under his skin and across the grunt's body; the weight in his bones lifted and he felt himself starting to relax. The pains that had he had tuned out began to melt away, and the hurricane of thorns that had been slowly shredding his patience and rationality started dissipating until it was manageable. He felt better, and even though his head still hurt he felt his reasoning for confronting the guardsman erode.

He needed to blend in and go with the flow. Yes, he was screwed into doing something he didn't need to do or be apart of, but when was there a day when that didn't happen? An opportunity would arise where he could slip away.

Alexander huffed and pushed off the counter. As he made to walk passed the guardsman he stepped into his path and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Do you think you're more important than me because you're Interpol? Think again, asshole. You're in my city, alone, so show some respect."

Guardsmen were just as bad as cops. Cops always had an issue with bigger agencies getting into their territories and taking their cases from them. Guardsmen took an issue with other agencies not caring about their feelings or questioning what they thought they knew. It always boiled down to respect, honor, and all the crap that they liked to stoke around civilians. It hurt their pride when you didn't cave to them.

So Alexander looked the man up and down, and scoffed. The reaction was predictable and immediate: the guardsman tensed at the slight and his eyes narrowed. Had they been alone, there wouldn't be any doubt that the interaction would have devolved into a fight- the way the muscles in his shoulders tensed gave that away- but to try and fight here, around his superiors, would cause more damage to himself than the grunt. Not to mention that Alexander would break this man like a twig if he did raise a hand against him.

He might break him anyways. It was as if the man's anger was a noxious gas: the grunt's skin was starting to burn despite his suit, and even after his revitalization he was feeling the headache threatening to come screaming back. Once again he had to wonder if he was losing his grip. He thought back on the facility he had escaped, and all the rage and bone-chilling anger that he had felt. He had seen something, and he couldn't tell if it was a hallucination. Possible brain damage, maybe? It wasn't like he could go back to the hospital to find out.

Alexander focused back on the guardsman after a couple seconds of him glaring in his face and grew bored. Deciding that time was wasting he firmly grabbed the man by the collar of his body armor and shoved him aside. The minor assault startled the man, and within the second it took for him to become enraged the grunt was lost in the stream of bodies.

* * *

It clicked as Alexander sat down in the bed of the truck that there were no pokemon near him during his recovery, aside from Kauane. With his distractions aside the grunt had a moment to wonder why he wasn't hurting anymore, and he could only think of the mismagius as the culprit.

 _Sneaky. Would've thanked her if she wasn't so subtle. At least you're not the asshole your species is known for being._

He jerked slightly and held onto the side as the vehicle started moving, and he looked around at his squad again. There were two guardsmen in the cab, three officers with him in the bed, and two trainers. One appeared on the verge of puking but was still trying to keep on a brave face; the other sat silently with fierce determination. The officers and guardsmen had assault rifles and three pokeballs between the lot of them, and the trainers had been given body armor to make up for their lack of rifles and had four pokeballs between the two of them.

"Who shot you in the face?" The fierce trainer asked. He had a sunburn that painted his face a dark red, and he looked like he should still be in grade school- the kid couldn't even be a teenager. The alolan government was basically throwing babies at their issues. Alexander rescinded his previous thoughts on the matter, this recruitment was a dumpster fire in the making.

Before Alexander could say anything the air above them rippled as a trainer on a Pidgeot flew past, tailed by a police helicopter. They quickly became lost among the buildings as they took point; Delta Squad was already approaching their quadrant and needed them. The air support was strong enough to face whatever they were dealing with. At least, that was the intel from the officers around him. They were talking quietly among themselves and trying to keep themselves distracted, and the child's invasive question perked their interest and drew their attention to him; their conversations petered out as something potentially juicy came up.

"An idiot." Alexander said simply, not liking the bluntness the kid had. The following silence was thick and painful as the bed of the truck waited for elaboration. It frustrated the grunt.

 _You all can go to hell_. Alexander thought to himself, leaning off the side slightly to look at where they were going. The officers recognized his posture and went back to what they were doing prior, and the kid scowled but said nothing else.

Alexander turned to his transceiver next and held it nervously. Kara wasn't up yet, and he had been watching the progression bar grow longer as Kara did whatever she did to accumulate herself after a recovery. He couldn't call it a boot up because that would insinuate that she was a program, and then she'd kick his ass for it suggesting it. It was probably more like waking up after being knocked out for surgery and struggling to fight past whatever drug they had pumped into you.

The bar crawled a little closer to its endpoint, and froze. Alexander stared at it for a couple seconds, uncertain if it was actually moving, and felt his jaw lock when it refused to budge any further. He didn't know what it meant- he hadn't seen this happen before _. Does this mean there's a complication? Is Kara still hurt?_

He was working himself up and jumping to conclusions too soon. After a full ten seconds of the bar not moving, each one pushing Alexander slightly closer to a panicked meltdown, it leaped forward and the screen began to lighten. He sat back slowly, calming down as he watched his transceiver intently. It began to heat up against his arm as energy flowed through it again and into his suit; some warped icons flashed in his damaged visor as Kara came back online. She appeared on the interface and Alexander had only a second to see that she was looking afraid before she turned off the screen.

The grunt was at a loss for words. _She's panicking. The last thing she remembers is that Ariados getting to her. Now it's a different place at a different time: this is too much for her to take in at once._ Quickly Alexander reached up and turned off his external speakers before looked down at the transceiver again.

"Kara, we're safe. No more Ariados." She was looking through everything she missed as was getting up to date, and speaking normally wouldn't get through the influx of data. Short, clipped sentences would get through. At least, that was the hope. The silence dragged on as Alexander waited for a response from her. "Kara. Talk to me. Please."

Alexander reached down and held the transceiver again, and as an afterthought started drumming his fingers against it lightly; it was one of her pet peeves for him to do that. Still no reaction.

"There's nothing." Kara finally stated. She was quiet as if she didn't believe what she was saying.

"I'm sorry?" Alexander asked, not understanding what she was talking about.

"I'm cut off, Alex. There are no signals leaving this island: no cellphones, radio transmissions, not even emergency channels. I'm not picking up satellite reception, either. It's all gone, the fabric of communications has unraveled. I don't know what's happening out there." Kara distressed. Alexander sat further back in the bed, processing what Kara had told him before she picked up again more urgently: "Why are we here? Why are you here, when you're hurt?"

"Kara, rela-"

"Don't tell me to relax! You have no clue about what is going on!" Kara seethed. She wasn't letting Alexander do the same thing a second time. She couldn't. There were some frequencies she could still monitor, and the information she was learning was making her sick. She had been awake for less than a minute, and everything she missed in the last seven hours was being forced on her at once.

 _Something had taken down the satellites._

 _Something had separated the islands._

 _Something is attacking Hau'oli City._

 _Alexander was running headfirst into the fray._

 _Alexander is hurt._

 _He's hurt._

"My cover got me nominated for this, it wasn't my-" Alexander flinched as a surge of energy made his skin tingle. Kara was scanning him. He remembered the ride out of the facility, his experience in the morgue, the plane crash. The grunt felt a bead of sweat run down his neck: Kara was about to explode. She wouldn't accept him explaining that a Mismagius had miraculously made him better. "I'm fine. You don't need to do that."

It was a miserable attempt to stop the inevitable.

Alexander felt Kara stop her scans and prepared his ears for the yelling. He looked away from the transceiver and at a checkpoint they were rolling upon. There were only two officers holding the area, and they had been prepared for them because the point was already open. Slowly it closed behind them and vanished behind a curve in the road. Alexander was still waiting for Kara to berate him. It was beginning to scare him that she wasn't.

"Why are you not in a hospital?" A simple question. One without a simple answer.

 _Why they thought you were dead is beyond me..._ Haunter's words floated around in Alexander's head for a moment and he began to think harder about what had been said down in the morgue.

"I think... they thought I was..." Alexander trailed off, unable to answer honestly without sounding crazy. _Dead. Terminal. Not worth saving. More silence_. Alexander's suit was starting to heat up. He felt afraid.

"Go back to the hospital." Kara ordered calmly. The amount of energy pouring through the suit gave away how she was actually feeling.

"I can't." He'd shot someone. They'd be looking for him, and walking right back into their presence after that would be inviting more bloodshed.

" _Go back_."

"They won't help me."

"Then I'll kill them and fix you myself."

Alexander couldn't argue with Kara, not when she was this angry. She wasn't hiding what she felt; before, Kara always hid things. It used to be a guessing game, once. The disaster was bringing it out of her.

Kara wasn't waiting for Alexander to make a decision. He was ignoring how bad his condition was, and from the number of stress hormones and chemicals she was detecting from a simple blood scan he was on the verge of shutting down. He couldn't win this fight. He wouldn't win this one even if he was in peak shape- not with what he was up against. She could disable the truck easily- there were enough sensitive electronics in the vehicle that one good jolt would cause it to die.

"I wasn't sticking around," Alexander asserted, knowingly throwing off her train of thought. She didn't know his plans, and it was his fault that she was getting so worked up. "there wasn't an opportunity for me to get out at the Pokemon Center, alright? With everything that's happening in this city I figured the ride to wherever we're going would have plenty of opportunities for me to slip away. I'm walking away from this the first chance I get."

"And straight into a hospital." She added, much to his chagrin. _What would be worse for me: going back to the place where I shot a man, or defying Kara?_

A tiny jolt prickled his arm and Alexander nearly lost his patience. "Quit zapping me, I'll go."

"It needs to be soon, Alex." There were many reasons behind Kara's warning. Alexander thought he was okay, but they both knew that he needed medical attention now. The grunt should've tried to get help at the hospital, but he had ignored it because his partner was worse off then he was. She hadn't pieced that together yet and was probably considering him incapable of taking care of himself, but when things calmed down she'd realize why he was here in the first place.

Kara had been listening to the radio chatter, and only she knew that if Alexander made it to their destination he wouldn't come back from it. In the couple minutes she had been awake over half the channels had gone dead, and they all were tethered to the teams that had made their way to the front line. Comments of biting sand, requests for fire support, and demands for various types of pokemon littered the communications between the front lines and the headquarters, but with what she knew she still couldn't figure out what was attacking. She did not have access to files on the local wildlife, and if she did there was no doubt she could have figured it out by now.

* * *

The truck came to a screeching halt. Everyone occupying the bed startled and braced themselves for a crash that didn't happen, and an officer banged on the back window to voice his irritation. "What's going on?"

"There's no more broadcasts coming from the frontlines." Kara stated, knowing why the truck had stopped well before they had even touched the brakes. She hid the nervous pulsing in her system: they were close to the frontlines. She felt some relief that Alexander seemed to read her mind because her sensors picked up how his hands tensed against the wall of the bed.

Alexander eyed a couple cars parked on the curb. He doubted that he would be fired on for deserting, but placing a couple things between him and them by the time they realized wasn't going to hurt anything. He pushed himself up and was out before the rest of the truck could react; the grunt made it a bit further before they started shouting behind him. He nearly made it too, before a tumultuous eruption of crumbling cement and earth cut off their yells completely. He stumbled and glanced sideways, realizing that the world had become silent again as he watched the road curl and buckle; a low wave of shattering concrete swept towards him and without a moment's hesitation he kicked his feet and flew up and over the tidal wave of stone.

Landing on the still moving and unstable concrete threw Alexander forward, and because the weight of his armor gladly betrayed him by cooperating with gravity, he couldn't catch himself and landed on his face. Pebbles scraped against his visor as the disorientated man began to prop himself up, cursing as dozens of smaller impacts struck his backside. The ground beneath him was shimmering and reflecting light, adding to the confusing environment as the grunt looked around to assess what was actually happening.

The sight took his breath away.

It was raining oblique slivers of light, with such intensity that he couldn't clearly see what was happening around him. Reds, yellows, blues, and silvers flashed past him and melted into the ground, an unyielding color of steel that only existed for the reflecting light to come back and paint the fresh slivers anew. It was much like a kaleidoscope, with every surface constantly changing shape and color, but otherwise eventually returning to what it once was.

It was mesmerizing to witness, and it captured Alexander's awe as he slowly stood. This was what was hitting him: an endless rain of symmetrical colors that shattered as they struck his armor.

His attention broke as a jolt shot up his arm, and the high pitched voice of a furious, disbelieving rotom finally pierced the bubble of wonderment that the grunt had been trapped in. "What in the hell are you doing Alex! Run!"

The storm around him suddenly lightened, and as he looked around him the grunt had to look up at the surrounding buildings. The exposed interiors of the skyscrapers around him lay recovering, beaten into submission like the once unmarred pavement at his feet. The flashing lights of the smashed truck behind him glowed faintly, coloring the buildings in fluctuating red and blue as the horn blasted and echoed through the rumbling out of sight.

There was screaming coming from the wreckage. Movement. The truck shifted violently, and the shattered headlights flipped over each other as the vehicle rolled a few times. The horn died as the weight against it was relieved, and a grey form began to rise above the remains of the vehicle.

Pins were sharp against his skin and cold lances rolled through the grunt as he watched the scene unfolding before him. The nosy kid was the source of the unholy screams, and he was struggling against his Rhydon's grip as a surviving officer removed a large shard of glass from his abdomen. There was a repertoire of fear in the drill pokemon's eyes as it held its trainer, and the officer suddenly started shouting at it didn't make it any better: "Ease up or you're going to crush him!"

The beast was trembling and it loosened its grip, but as it did the trainer nearly jerked out of its grasp in his throes. The officer bit his lip and pressed a large patch of cloth against the wound, and Alexander could see it soak through almost immediately.

"Alex! Now!" There was fear in Kara's voice. Kara didn't become afraid. Ever.

The officer turned away from the child under his hands to look for something among the still forms at his feet and noticed Alexander. "Marcus! I need you here, now!" The ferocity in the officer's voice burned like fire against the grunt's skin, and the cold venom working though him intensified as the Rhydon turned its terrified gaze to him as well.

Alexander stood there, felt the unrestrained electricity flowing into him from Kara losing her restraint, felt the sea of fear and anger resonating from the survivors of the crash, and ran.

Alexander would never have risen to the highest ranks in the Company. It wasn't because of his checkered history, or even the damage his last team had done in Kanto. To get to the top, you needed to have the Company's total trust that you would do the entire job and follow the regulations, without hesitation. You needed to follow orders, no matter what was entailed, and you followed them down to the text. He was everything that they wanted from him. He was everything that they thought was dangerous. Politics well above his awareness circled him daily. Things he had no control of stained his chances of rising to the elites.

Alexander was dangerous. He was a liability that they couldn't afford, a loose end in a neat, orderly blanket of shadows and power that stretched back throughout history; One sewn by a needle of ruthlessness and immorality that led history along into today. All it could take was one person to unravel it all. A person that could follow the rules and codes; a person that did so with contempt long smothered and buried by a decade of constant desensitization.

No, Alexander was the perfect soldier that the company admired. He just had a heart, and that made him a liability.

Glass crunched under his boots as he skidded to a halt in their midst. Blood flowed freely around him as the remains of the rest of the cab lay scattered, and he reached out to apply pressure to the boy's stomach when the ground trembled again.

Alexander, Kara, the officer, and the Rhydon all looked down the street where the attack had come from. It was then, they realized, that they had not been the targets of the attack at all. They had just been behind it.

A skyscraper was breaking its formation with the rest of the buildings around it. The building teetered as it's foundation failed it, and for a second the group was transfixed as its base finally gave out. It began its descent into the earth; lower floors folding up into each other as the weight of everything above came crashing down. A grey cloud of dust began to rapidly bloom, swallowing the building and rapidly expanding into the surrounding area.

Kara watched as Alexander somehow pulled the kid free from his Rhydon's grasp and began to run. She should have known better. It was so Alex, to stick his neck out for something that didn't matter. He should've listened and run when he had the chance, and now the statistics were drastically against him surviving. She began running scenarios that could help improve his chances, and within a few seconds, she was highlighting a building for him to enter. It would protect him from the debris field, and possibly give him enough space to escape the scene unnoticed by whatever was attacking the city.

 _This kid's going to die_. Alexander vaulted through the remains of the building's front and skidded as he examined his surroundings. He was in the lobby of a mall, with a long hallway before him lined with stores. _That idiot shouldn't have pulled out the glass; that's an artery bleeding. I can't stop that._

Said idiot came flying past him without stopping, passing him only because the grunt had to take in his surroundings. He noticed cuts and blood staining the man's back then. He began to run when he more or less felt the floor quake and heard stone and steel give way for the Rhydon, who was not running from the cloud of debris but was rather chasing Alexander and his dying trainer.

He couldn't continue running forever, not with the kid's blood running down his armor in rivulets. The grunt skidded to a stop about halfway through the building and kicked in a cheap door to a retail store, and as he ran inside the officer noticed him and called out:

"Why in the hell are you stopping!?"

Alexander ignored the man's oversight and forced the squirming child down onto the floor. He reached out and tore a shirt off a hanger before pressing it against the wound, causing him to scream yet again as pain he had never felt before tore through his younger body. The officer appeared at the door, and the look on his face said it all. Alexander felt fires burning within him and barked: "Find a belt and more clothes! Now!"

The floor shuddered again and things fell off shelves near the back of the room, and as the officer began ransacking the place they heard the door screech and shatter as it was torn from its hinges and thrown through another front across the hall. The frame imploded as Rhydon shoved its way through, and the murder etched in its eyes almost made him abandon the kid then and there. He heard the officer's approach falter and the fires became a hellstorm.

"NOW DAMNIT!"

The frame of power over the other man shifted from the beast looming into the dark-clad individual screaming at him. The ferocity in Alexander's voice made the room's occupants' skin tingle, and the air thickened as the officer stumbled and forced a wad of shirts at him.

Thin. Polyester. Of course it's summer clothes. They wouldn't absorb like cotton, wouldn't slow the bleeding. The grunt felt panic digging into his chest. "Cotton! Get anything made of cotton! Pants, shorts, anything! I'm trying to save his life, not prolong his death!" The beast's eyes changed as he demanded more from the officer. He wasn't trying to steal away the monster's trainer, he was trying to save him.

Alexander threw away the first shirt, now soaked completely, and grabbed the entire wad of plastic. He pressed the mess against the wound to at least try and slow the blood pumping out of the kid, and when the officer came back with what he needed he nearly threw the wasted clothing into the horizon as he grabbed the naturally weaved cloths from him. The trainer lashed out and struck his helmet as the grunt pressed the absorbing fibers to the wound, and began to scream bloody murder as he tried to pack the gash. The presence of the Rhydon grew stronger and he spoke harshly:

"If we don't stop the bleeding, he dies! Officer, grab the belt and wrap it around his stomach!"

It would only be so long before he lost his power over the man. The fear, blood, and heat of the moment made him weak and easy to manipulate. The drill pokemon was threatening his control, and Alexander had to keep using words relating to death to keep the creature from ripping him a new one while he worked on the trainer's injuries. The belt came and he picked the kid up for it to slide under him, and the officer worked on restraining the kid as Alexander wrapped the belt over the clothes and tightened it down. Finishing the grunt reached down and began to lift the kid up, but as he did he felt sudden pressure against his side that knocked him sideways. Stumbling, he fell as the Rhydon reached down and under the kid, its claws crushing the cement beneath him. It carefully lifted him up and held him close, with the tentative nature such a beast needed to handle such a fragile creature.

The officer looked on silently before shifting his attention outside the store. Grey dust had clouded out the windows and was slowly wafting in from the broken door frame. He began wrapping his face with a shirt before heading to the trainer but hesitated as the drill pokemon growled at him.

"We need to get him to the hospital, and he won't be able to breathe out there without this." He explained cautiously, waiting for the pokemon's permission to approach. It eyed him silently before looking at the dust pooling in. It lowered its head and nodded, and the officer slowly began to wrap another shirt around the whimpering boy's nose and mouth. He looked to the grunt as if to ask _Will he make it?_

Alexander didn't answer. Instead, he turned and ran through the doorway. He heard them follow and focused on looking for any shapes that loomed out from the thickening cloud. The advanced vision wouldn't be able to see much further with the thickness of the dust, so it remained off. Abandoned personal items, carts, and merchandise passed him by as they made their way through the complex, and the only sound that filled the void was the kid's suffering.

Somehow, throughout the entire accident, they had failed to see what had cut down the skyscraper. Not even Kara knew what the threat was. When they finally found an exit and left, they still didn't see it. But it saw them.

* * *

Alexander froze as the dust before him shifted. His arm lashed out and caught the officer before he could pass him, and glass shattered out of their line of sight, no farther than thirty yards away. They both stood still and scanned the area before them, beggining to back up in sync with each other until the Rhydon was at their back. It was a waste of time because it was still dark outside, and the lights from the city couldn't fully penetrate the powder in the air. The murky haze wasn't giving up anything.

The grunt didn't like this one bit. Something was out there and knew where they were, and they were completely blind. His armor could probably take a few more heavy hits, but it wasn't going to hold out forever; the kid wouldn't even be able to take a graze in his condition; the officer was slightly better off, but not by much. Rhydon could probably tank whatever came at them, but its priority was the trainer, nd it would no doubt leave them if it meant keeping the kid safe.

They waited as silently as they could for anything else to move, and the officer tugged on Alexander's shoulder and silently pointed in the other direction. He nodded in agreement and began to usher their monster of an ally away when a dark shape began to materialize. It was large, towering over the four individuals, and two pinpricks of golden light looked down on them as silence finally overtook the group.


	10. The Sands of Time

**Poke Wars belongs to Cornova.**

* * *

There had been a lot of things that had tried to take Alexander away from Kara over the years. The Company, people, Ops. She wasn't able to keep him safe; more often then not it was luck that let him see another day instead of her own actions. She was weak and fearful- if she did anything, the Company would have taken him away and retired her from service. So, she compromised. She recorded the things that happened to Alexander and reported it in the hope that something would be done. She did that for a long time, and it made her feel like nothing every time nothing was done.

But now that wasn't the case. She was strong, stronger than at any other time in her life. Whatever had granted her this gift deserved her praise even if it wanted her human dead, but it wouldn't get that praise for that exact reason, and it was going to realize it had made a grievous mistake giving her this gift when it came for them.

No longer would Kara stay at the wayside when Alexander was in danger. Everything that had laid a hand against him was dead, and everything that tried was going to die.

This creature attacking them was going to die.

She pushed down the panic that she felt and examined the information she had at hand. If this was the one responsible for the collapsed tower, then it used Bulldoze, a ground-type move. It wasn't struggling to breathe in the debris cloud-like the officer, trainer, or the Rhydon, and she could feel the energy rolling off it like a thick fog; this was a ghost, one that could use ground type moves. Her chances of hurting it with an electric attack were unlikely.

"Don't look down," Kara ordered firmly, and with a blink, the transceiver screen flashed brightly. It glared off the cloud around them and blinded everything for a moment, and a deep roar rattled the bones of the group as whatever had loomed over them recoiled.

As Alexander began to scrambled away- no doubt as startled as the creature- Kara got to see the beast in its entirety. One made of sand, shaped in a way similar to some kalosian castles. The officer shrieked a word she had not heard before and began to run, babbling as he did and ending her reservations about actually being attacked by a child's past time. One of the towers that appeared to function as an arm came slamming down in a rage and shattered the pavement, sending large chunks into the air and throwing everything to the ground save the Drill Pokemon.

 _Definitely a Ground Type._ Kara kept her panic locked away and began to assess her assets. _Most of my heavy-hitting moves are useless... Rhydon would fair better, I'll just give it some time to react._

The castle shook and glared at Alexander as he scrambled to his feet until its attention fell to the glow on his arm. The light quickly started changing colors until it became a distorted and constantly shifting field of static, and the glowing stones that appeared to be eyes seemed to vanish for a second as it slid backward.

"It's distracted, Alexander. Get out of here!"

Alexander rose to his feet and began to put space between him and their attacker. Another roar shattered the silence and ended in a thunderclap of clashing metal as something was pulverized into oblivion, and tremors shook the ground as it smashed everything in its way. He saw the Rhydon trying to keep pace from the corner of his vision and staggered to a halt as it began to lag behind.

The officer was nowhere to be seen, so the kid had only him to rely upon. The Drill Pokemon's attempts to keep him safe were in vain: it was going too slow. He'd bleed out before he got to the hospital, if they made it at all with the creature bearing down on them.

"You can't get him to the hospital quick enough; just buy us some time to escape and I'll get him there!"

The Pokemon gave him a conflicted look barely veiled by a glare, but Alexander didn't back down. Another deep roar made the earth quake and forced a groan out of the surrounding buildings; glass shattered as the concrete buildings weathered the damage being inflicted on them, and the once pristine road morphed again as it was forcefully rearranged. A street light snapped off at its base and fell towards the trio, and seeing its trainer in danger the Rhydon turned its back to take the brunt of the fall. It bounced harmlessly off its back and deflected into the ground beside the two, but the kid still cried out as the Ground and Rock-type held him closer out of instinct and crushed his arm.

Horror crossed its face as the trainer began to struggle, and Alexander felt the resistance it had melt as the brute eased off to hand him over. The kid didn't weigh much and was easy to carry despite his weakening struggles, and a sharp grunt from the Rhydon made him look up.

 _Please, keep him alive._

The grunt blinked as the language barrier broke, uncertain if he had actually heard what he thought he had.

"Duck!" Kara half ordered, half screamed, breaking the grunt's speculation. He obeyed without question and felt something cold pass over his form, missing him and striking the ground somewhere beyond. Rhydon stomped its foot and a wall of stone erupted from the earth, bursting underground water lines and cutting off the street completely. Almost immediately after the wall crumbled as something struck it, and as water began to spray from the cracks in the concrete it dug its heels deeper and roared.

Alexander needed no further order from Kara and ran. Loose rubble was kicked into the air around him as he evacuated the area, carefully hugging the kid close as falling debris cut through the cloud around him. He sidestepped a falling desk that exploded across the terrain where he had been moments before and kept on, focusing between listening to Kara's directions and keeping his footing every time the ground quaked. He couldn't see in the dust and found himself dodging abandoned cars, rubble, and every other obstacle he came across in his blind sprint. The only thing he could clearly see was the dying kid in his arms, who's struggled and whimpers were weakening with every passing second.

There was no chance for this kid. Packing the wound had only slowed the inevitable, but the Rhydon had not known that. It blindly bought into the lie that there was still hope for its trainer, and was only buying the grunt time to get away.

Alexander felt dirty. He hadn't even realized what he had done until then, but he was already across that bridge. He needed to live.

Then, the air around him illuminated as headlights peeled out of the dark. Tires squealed as an SUV came to a halt beside them, almost on top of them, and Alexander heard the doors unlock before a familiar face leaned out the broken window. The officer's bark was nearly inaudible over the cacophony of groaning infrastructure and the growing clamor between the pokemon they had left behind: "Get in the damn car!"

He didn't remember getting in the vehicle, but his muscles worked on their own and pushed him into the backseat. Alexander was applying pressure to the boy's stomach before the vehicle lurched to speed away from the escalating conflict, and the officer began to talk in a disjointed, rambling panic.

"I thought it got you- we gotta get him to the hospital! We're not ready for this; the city needs to be evacuated before- is the kid gonna make it man? Get that sand off 'a him! Get rid of all the sand! The forest will be safe- I need to get home, I'll drop you two off and..."

The man was running out of breath, a problem Kara would never have. She was going to make this man regret trying to ditch them when she could, but he knew information she didn't. "What was that creature?"

The officer nearly hit his head on the ceiling and swerved, cursing aloud as he regained control and narrowly avoided rear-ending a van looming out of the dust. "Who else is back there!?"

"Answer the question!"

The man flicked his eyes to the rearview mirror a few times in a fruitless attempt to see Kara and remained silent for another second to gather himself. "It's a Palossand- a ghost and ground type. The bastards are never this far inland." The officer stopped talking to deftly avoid another obstacle and the debris cloud began to fade enough for light to start filtering through.

Kara had a name and typing. Her guess had been correct, and she started to try to access her sources for more information before she could help it; there was nothing to access.

Ever since waking up, it felt like she had gone deaf; she wasn't used to it, and it was frustrating that it kept getting past her. There were no communications that reached any further than the edge of the city, the points of access and infinite flow of information that she had always possessed and taken for granted had been stripped from her. There were simply no satellites or long distant servers she could reach: the fabric of communication had unraveled.

All she could still access were the local networks, and with a heavy drone, she realized that too was beginning to slip away block by block. _No, not now._ Determined, Kara began to dig into the signals she was receiving, passing radio broadcasts from the rapidly collapsing police and military presence until she found municipal stations and connected sensors.

From what she could tell through the static, it seemed that the main power leading into the city had begun to fluctuate. She could only trace it a few miles north until the sensors ended, and with a start, she realized that the signal had collapsed somewhere up the line. She couldn't troubleshoot what had happened from where she resided and would need to access the system to physically check, which wouldn't be happening anytime soon as another fluctuation came down from the mountain and scrambled the signals. The Rotom shook off the disorientation and began to troubleshoot what was happening in the city, and she pieced two things together then:

The energy fluctuations were damaging sensors as inconsistent power either overloaded or underloaded them, causing resets that dragged down the rest of the system or make it completely shut down. Localized systems that had their own power were doing better than most public systems, and as an entire section of the city suddenly fell away from Kara's perception some of the emergency systems remained online.

Then there were the pokemon actively attacking the city. She could hear it over the radio chatter: Palossand were taking over the south, and with it communications were falling silent- the communications ahead of them were down already, and the same was happening to places further inland; the furthest inland areas were full of gunfire, orders, and retreats from a separate assaulting force that she had been unaware of. With a start she noticed a program activate in a channel she had dismissed as weak, and multiple emergency services across the city responded in kind.

" _To the people of Hau'oli city: please find a secure location indoors. Do not approach windows or doors, and remain in that location until instructed otherwise_..."

Kara tuned out the message as it broadcasted, noticing that only a small fraction of the city was receiving it in the midst of the power surges.

Having lost interest, she continued looking for data on the situation. The longer Kara searched, spanning only a couple seconds of tense silence, she came to see that any servers or data banks holding information on Palossand were offline and not apart of the systems meant to keep the city functioning. Why she couldn't gain access to the police department's files was beyond her, but she was in the dark, and her next target was the only source of information.

"I take it they were dangerous before yesterday."

Despite the situation, the man managed to laugh. "You can say that, yeah. Hundreds of tourists are attacked every year by their pre-evolution stage alone. The force was constantly fighting the things to keep them away from the popular beaches, but they still managed to snag one or two a year."

Kara absorbed the information and started formulating plans. She needed to get Alexander away from the city, and the first thing that she considered was the officer himself. He was rattled enough to be thinking of deserting to the forest, and it wouldn't be difficult to tag along and make him get Alexander to the hospital. She'd have to be fast to diagnose what was wrong, grab the proper equipment to help, and then get away from the city before it fell, but it was possible. And if the officer was still with them, she would deal with him then, when they were alone.

If he refused to take them to the hospital, she could just deal with him now and take the car; a scan confirmed that there were enough electronics for her to control the vehicle if she pleased. She'd be able to get Alexander medical attention and away from the conflict, and from then they'd have to figure out what happens next. Moving on, she continued:

"How did the force fight against Polassand?" Kara needed strategies and plans that had worked before. They could be less effective now, but it was a base that she could build on if the Palossand made it to the hospital before they could get out.

"You must be joking- we can't fight that!" The officer lamented. He gripped the steering wheel tighter and grit his teeth, clearly distressed. "Look, the people that fought Polassand are either ashes or under a couple meters of concrete, alright? Who didn't die yesterday isn't trained for defending against these monsters- the moment they realize what they're up against, they're gonna bail."

"Like what you're doing now?" Kara dug, annoyed that he had failed to give her anything useful. "Do you know any of the strategies they used? Anything useful at all?"

The officer didn't speak, and Kara registered that her tone of voice had pissed the man off. Something about the situation egged her on, and despite knowing that it might end any chance of her getting more information from him, she spoke in the same condescending tone. "I take it you do not, since you are planning on running for the hills. How many people are going to die because you're too afraid to fight for them? Your brothers and sisters in arms don't know what is coming, and you are more than content with letting them find out on their own."

A dark chuckle escaped him and the officer sneered in the rearview mirror, looking for her. "You're a piece of work, I tell ya. You want to live? _Run_. Don't get close to these things or you die. You end up in sand near them, you die."

Kara was pleasantly surprised that the officer gave her useful information and archived it, working out what she could do with it in the back of her mind as she considered pushing the topic more. Her attention shifted slightly as Alexander's heart rate increased, and as she began to focus on him the officer's tone and posture abruptly changed:

"Oh, Tapus have mercy."

* * *

Alexander had been ignoring the noise the best he could. He was focused solely on the kid under his hands, and the blood working up through them. It was everywhere: smeared on the back of the seats, soaking his arms, and spattered on the opposite window as the kid struggled against him. He was holding onto the grunt's arms tightly and whimpering still, but the empty panic that had long flooded the trainer's eyes was weakening.

 _Too late_. Alexander peeled a hand off the wound and gripped one of the kid's hands reassuringly, feeling something start to crack inside him. This was undeserved- it should have been a soldier under him, not some child that had been recruited out of a Center. It made him angry. The grunt closed his eyes and started to focus on breathing in a pattern to keep himself calm, but he could feel it in his chest. Something was working its way up, rumbling with enough force to make his arms tremble.

Then, the air sharpened.

The grunt looked away from his dying charge and sat up, already preparing his Scizor. He didn't register anything at first as he scanned the abandoned street, but as he looked harder something came through the broken window and passed his face. He snatched it up before it could get past him and looked down at his clenched fist, turning it over and opening it to examine his catch before the wind could blow it away.

A solitary, smooth grain of sand rested in his palm harmlessly. The grunt let his hand fall as he leaned up against the back of the passenger seat to watch the air. More sand was building under the wipers, he noted, and the lights from the buildings illuminated even more falling from the sky like light snow. A pit formed in his stomach, and both grunt and officer were suddenly on the same page.

They needed to get as far away from there as possible, now.

"Do you understand?" The officer muttered uneasily, slowing down to turn onto an unblocked road. The intensity of the storm increased slightly, and the man began to tap his fingers rapidly along the steering wheel as he immediately turned again. Whatever path he was taking remained unknown to the foreigners as they examined the storm intently. "Us personally?"

A scoff. "There's nothing we can do that won't get us killed. I've got people that I need to get back to, and it seems you might as well. I promised a lot to my city lady, but there's a point where you have to look out for your own. They still have an army to get them out of this, but my... friends, don't. And if this gets as bad as I know it'll get, then they won't notice I'm gone for a long, long while. You were thinking the same- don't deny it. You're no different than me, alright?"

Alexander listened to the man's excuse and realized with a start that figuring out what was wrong with him wasn't his only priority. Connor was still outside that cafeteria; he left his extraction behind without so much as a second thought. The grunt closed his eyes in frustration, but shook it off and opened them. Kara was more important than the weasel; he just had to hope that he hadn't slipped away on him.

Alexander felt a trembled go up the kid's arm and looked in the rearview mirror to catch the officer's chest, reading his name embroidered on the uniform: Scott Ada. The heat started creeping back again, and the grunt decided he needed to make a point to this man.

Meanwhile, Kara was rejecting the comparison Scott made. Their motives were in no way similar. Her job was to keep Alexander alive, at all costs. There had never been a promise to protect this city; it had been forced on them. The only thing she had promised protecting was her charge, and the weight behind that well surpassed whatever petty pledge this officer had sworn to. His thoughts were worthless.

"We're nothing alike." She commented, and in return Scott's face tightened. His mouth moved to say something but the words died on his lips as he shook his head, the muscles loosening after a couple seconds as he moved on.

"Will the kid make it?" He hesitated, swinging the SUV around another corner and shooting down a side alley. It was as they exited onto a new street did Alexander answer, and Scott's face evolved many times over within the space of a second as he registered the grunt grabbing his arm with his bloodied hand. It was first confusion as he felt the warm liquid, then a flicker of disgust that was quickly crushed by dread and realization as he registered how much of it was on the grunt. Steel settled in the man's eyes- already preparing himself to handle the worst as he listened to the faint breathing behind him.

His hand slipping free, Alexander leaned further forward and growled in his ear: "You cut an artery pulling the glass out."

The steering wheel protested slightly as Scott gripped it harder. The lines in his face deepened as he restrained something growing inside him, and he turned to the grunt. "You think I killed him? You were not there- Remember that. You chose to run, and you were not in the back of that truck when it rolled." The officer seethed, ending his glare with the emotionless void that was Alexander's helmet as he focused back on the road.

There was silence as Alexander stared at Scott. Slowly sitting back he felt the kid's grip loosen, and looking at the now silent trainer, the grunt sighed internally. It was over for him, at least. He was free from his fear and suffering _. Are you the lucky one, kid?_

Alexander became rigid at the thought. What was happening now was only the beginning. He couldn't forget that. Scott wasn't apart of the big picture; out of all the trouble and pain that was coming, this officer's actions meant nothing to him. This child's death shouldn't be bothering him; the grunt had not even bothered to learn the kid's name; he wasn't attached in any way to him. He was just a young face in all of this, one of the many children that were surely dead by now.

The grunt decided then that he needed to get over it. It didn't affect him, and he needed to focus on his own things. It didn't matter what had killed the kid in the end; he was dead, and Alexander was not. It wasn't worth pursuing any further.

The SUV rounded a curve and slowed as Scott pressed his foot on the brake, eyes narrowing as they approached a blocked off intersection. Nearly a dozen silent cars were parked on the sidewalk on each side of the road, slowly creeping onto the street to funnel traffic into a checkpoint. It seemed that the force had used a bus as a gate to prevent anyone from trying to ram their way through, seeing as how it was parked perpendicular on the street and essentially blocked the entire stretch of asphalt. Metal police barricades and tape were set up in the spaces between the vehicles, notably cutting off foot traffic as well to what lay beyond the bus.

They came to a stop well before they reached the funnel, and Scott shook his head slowly. "This road is a straight shot to the hospital; we kept everyone except emergency personnel off of it unless they needed medical attention." The man closed his eyes and exhaled slowly, resting his head further back in his seat. When he spoke again, his voice was brittle.

"The kid's dead, but I need to know if you are still going to the hospital."

"We are." Both Kara and Alexander answered at the same time. The grunt eyed the checkpoint for movement, but the area seemed abandoned. "Is there any way around this?"

Scott shook his head. "Not a chance. We did a good job securing this road, so we'd just be wasting time for the Palossand to catch up by looking for another way around." He tapped the gas lightly and scooted forward, turning the wheel so they could squeeze through a space at the rear of the bus. Alexander tightened his grip on the Scizor as they approached, and the officer seemed to notice.

"Word spreads fast, so we're probably not the only ones trying to escape. Whoever was supposed to be keeping the area secure at least did us a favor by leaving the gate open."

 _Word is traveling fast._ Kara scanned the remaining channels again to double-check, but Scott wasn't wrong. She turned her attention to the barricade next and searched for anything that could be useful, and was surprised to find six signals with a familiar frequency. She examined them closer and recognized their tags matched the police department's identification information, one of the few things that were still accessible and traceable. She started tracking their exact locations and realized that they were not stationary, and one was rapidly approaching from the other side of the bus.

"Scott, your officers are still here," Kara stated warily, causing the breathing humans in the vehicle to tense. Alexander leaned back and switched the MP90 to its burst setting, and upon hearing the click Scott flinched and shook his head sharply.

"Don't you even think about it! Look, I know these people and they'll let us through. We're family." He hissed, glowering at the grunt before leaning out the window and calling out. "Sergeant Willia, it's Scott Ada; sorry to roll up on ya, but we gotta go through here. I take it since none of ya are in position that you heard the news and are from here?"

The SUV began rolling past the bus and an officer came into view, not even a foot from the open window, but hidden behind the bulk of the larger automobile until they were directly alongside it. Darkness pooled under the helmet the officer wore and darkened the top part of his chiseled face, hiding his eyes in the void the light missed. An insignia on the man's shoulder didn't match that of a sergeant and glinted, catching Alexander's eye a moment before the same light glinted off the barrel of his assault rifle.

They didn't see Scott's face, but his tensing muscles was their only warning before they had even seen the gun. Alexander began to raise his weapon but the other man squeezed the trigger first, and Scott jerked in his seat as bloodshot from his head and sprayed against the grunt's visor.

Alexander fired blindly through his door, the bullets more than enough to punch through the steel and into the assailant. The tires screeched as Scott's foot slammed down, muffling the gunfire erupting outside. The vehicle surging forward caused him to fall into the seat, and in a swift movement he shoved against it and crammed himself between the front seats as bullets cut through the doors and windows; he could hear the kid's corpse take the brunt of the hail as he grappled with the steering wheel and cranked it to avoid plowing through a lobby window, instead crushing one of their attackers who had strayed too far into the road.

A volley of bullets stitched up the grill as the person went down shooting, cutting grooves into the hood before punching through the windshield. Alexander felt a round strike his shoulder harmlessly and gripped the wheel tighter as he jolted over the body with a crunch. The engine began to idle as the tension in Scott's leg eased up, so the grunt reached down and shoved down on the limb until the engine began to roar again.

He needed to get away from the ambush before the car was crippled. He couldn't afford losing it or he wouldn't have enough time at the hospital.

Kara counted seven officers firing on them from surveillance cameras, minus the one under the tires and the other that Alexander had gunned down. Their positions were strategically placed for the ambush behind cars, trees, and storefronts along the empty stretch of road, and the SUV was directly in their killing lane.

For a microsecond, she tried to understand why this was happening. The ambush was an act of malice by the police force- they had abandoned their posts and left the gate open instead of keeping the checkpoint secure. They were trying to trick people into believing that the post was abandoned and lure them into a trap. They had shot one of their own members at point-blank range after he announced his presence, and despite what Scott had said, they didn't exactly treat him like family. She noticed no visible reaction from them as two of their own fell, or any reaction at all. It wasn't natural; humans are expressive creatures, but their faces remained blank slates as they emptied rounds into the back of the fleeing vehicle.

They were not seeing their actions. It was too late to ask Scott about how capable the ghosts were with possession, but she was figuring it out herself by watching how the hostile group move like clockwork.

She could kill all of them. It would be easy, humans were slow creatures, especially now. But yet, she hesitated. Alexander could get pretty far before she would be able to catch up. Every time she had left him alone something tried to kill him, and with the forces attacking the city she could clearly calculate the likelihood that he would run into something that wanted him dead.

She found herself losing interest in leaving Alexander for even a moment, and instead turned her attention to the SUV. She could take control while Alexander returned fire, and if it was compromised, which was growing more likely with every second, she could just find another.

Then, something grabbed her attention in a very literal way as a humanoid figure ran in front of them, glowing a light blue. Alexander, and in turn her, were thrown into the front seat as they slammed into it, stopping the car in its tracks with a screech of crumpling metal. The armor on the grunt's chest took the brunt of the impact and compensated so his ribs didn't shatter, but the dashboard and radio didn't fair the same as nearly three hundred pounds crushed it into oblivion.

Kara's sensors nearly failed her as she was thrown around, but she managed to piece together that they had hit a pokemon. She couldn't see it at first because the sensors in the transceiver and Alexander's helmet were buried in plastic, but as she switched back to the surveillance cameras on the street she felt a spike of panic as the Machamp pushed against the screaming vehicle with two of its arms, using the other two to smash the engine down into the pavement with a solid blow. The burnout from the tires faded as the car was killed, and the Rotom began changing her calculations from the likelihood of finding something wanting to kill Alexander to the likelihood of him getting away from it.

The aluminum body crumpled under the Machamp's grip as it got a better handhold, and without effort, it gripped at the frame underneath and lifted up. Alexander was shaken from his hole as the wheels left the pavement, but Kara momentarily paused her thinking as she noticed that the glow had yet to leave the superpower pokemon as it began to spin, staring blankly at the grunt that barely managed to rise to meet it.

 _This isn't possible._

"Oh, what the fu-" Alexander began, startled by their new company.

It was possible. The blue didn't leave as the Machamp made a full spin, then another. It bent its knees and lept upwards and out of the security camera's view, making examining the phenomenon more difficult as Alexander dislodged from the dash completely and was thrown into the backseat, beside the fallen trainer.

 _It's using two moves. We could never do that before._ Kara thought. _There have been more restraints cut away than what I first thought, then. How many restraints are- were there? Are they all gone now? How powerful have we become? What am I capable of?_

She pushed aside the thoughts as the spinning grew more intense while the move picked up heat. She worried about Alexander, who was suffering from many things, now including vertigo. The armor would be able to keep him alive from the upcoming impact- she had figured out the rating and knew that his chances were good, although the chance that he wouldn't be good was still there. If he survived the impact, it appeared that he wasn't going to be able to recover quick enough to get away. She kept her panic controlled because it would do her no good to panic, and would only make his survival chances slimmer, noting that they were near the end of the move.

It seemed that she was going to get a chance to answer her questions soon enough.

"Alex, close your eyes and brace." She ordered, and her human complied to the best of his ability. He groped blindly for a seatbelt and clutched it harshly, but by then the Machamp decided it had built up enough momentum. It tossed the SUV towards the ground, the change in direction enough to cause everything that wasn't bolted down to rattle around the interior, Alexander included.

The hatch imploded into the backseat as the rear end struck the ground first, the momentum crushing part of the roof next and the tires as they went into a roll. Alexander bounced off the sides of the interior, losing most of his senses as his armor struggled to keep him from breaking. The blur of colors that was his environment darkened as his helmet cut off the video feed and tuned out the noise in an attempt to keep his senses from overloading. It was somewhat effective; being thrown around without any control was disorientating no matter how protected you were.

Kara reminded herself to keep calm as they glanced off a light post, crushing the door that Alexander had been bouncing off of for the past couple of rolls. The impact changed their trajectory, swinging them directly into a large window pane that had survived up until then. Another rollover, and a dividing wall stopped their tumble, crumbling under the force as they slid forward another few feet before finally resting.

Knowing they wouldn't have much time, the Rotom ejected herself from the transceiver and into the electrical grid of the building. She lost the ability to manipulate the street cameras as she did, but she already knew how many assailants were coming and when they would arrive. The lights in the building flickered as she scanned it for information, uncovering that it was a restaurant with many exits, security cameras, and appliances she could use.

Alexander's chances were improving.

* * *

Alexander gasped weakly as he settled, squinting as his vision and hearing were returned. The vehicle was resting on its side, letting him see up through the passenger side windows and at wooden rafters making up the ceiling. It was spinning, but the grunt couldn't wait for it to go away as he struggled to raise an arm. Seeing his obstacle, He shoved the broken body of the trainer off his chest, grimacing at the wet sound of flesh striking metal when the kid rolled off and hit the door beside him. His mind glossed over the damage to the kid's face as it stopped in front of his visor.

Rolling away he checked to see if he still had his Scizor, which he did. Concluding that he could defend himself, he gripped the driver's seat and pulled himself up. His arm tried to give out and he closed his eyes, blocking out the queasy rolling of his organs as he pushed over the seat, grasping the bloodied steering wheel next. He was resting on Scott's shoulder when he felt the man move below him and groan. Alexander hesitated and looked down, seeing the man's eyes rolling around in their sockets and the torn flesh along his cheekbone _. Bastard's still alive. Barely, but he's alive._

Focusing back on his goal, he left the officer belted in as he tugged, slipping on the bloodied material a couple times before getting a firm grip and pulling himself further along until he had to squeeze past the crushed dashboard and out the broken windshield.

The grunt swallowed as he crawled past a crushed table, finding a wooden chair to prop himself up. Getting onto the thing would have cost more energy than he wanted to spend, so he used it as a stepping stone and got to where he could lean against the remains of the table. He was in a large serving area, with a bar on the adjacent wall. It looked like a pretty nice place to eat, before the car crashed through it.

"Alexander, you _cannot_ stop right now." Kara buzzed in his ear, a welcome voice that he responded to with a small chuckle.

"Am I at least getting an A _Plusle_ for effort?" He wheezed, obliging as he started pushing himself up. The smile he owned wavered slightly as he strained. Sweat beaded his face as he managed, wavering slightly once his feet were under him. Noting her silence, he shook his head: "Bad timing again, sorry. I'll try sometime else when things are not so _Gloomy_."

"Alex, focus!"

"Aw, come on. I am focused! There's no need to be _Krabby_!" The grunt huffed, putting on a brave face and taking a step forward, then almost immediately falling into another table. Huffing he started again, only to stop as the remains of the SUV shuddered. Kara buzzed something frantic and the grunt responded without hearing it, leaping to the side as the vehicle shot forward. The furniture he had been using was smashed into pieces as it slid along the wooden floor, tearing up the boards as it grated along, slamming through the bar and knocking down the shelves of alcohol as it slammed into the wall. Taking up his gun from his spot on the floor, he turned towards the Machamp who stood at the hole.

"That wasn't very effective, asshole!"

* * *

 **I feel that I owe the people that read this an apology. Two months off in a slump wasn't cool to start with, not to mention the chapter before was kind of weak on a prior promise. However, the next chapter will make up for it, I assure you all. As always, I like reviews. Tell me if I'm doing things right. If there's errors, or something that is unsatisfying, or if you think that my writing should be smoother, let me know.**

 **Until whenever I update this next,**

 **See ya then.**


	11. Ashes to ashes

The Company never cut corners. The habit was sloppy, stupid, and wasted more resources and time instead than if they had put everything into their projects the first time. Things were done right the first time because flaws and setbacks hurt. They didn't like that and persistently reminded their employees that they wouldn't like it either if oversight caused a failure. Every part of the project was important, every step was to be followed and double-checked until success was the only possible outcome. It made the Company a feared and respectable force for the few that were trusted to know of their existence, and their influence was more than enough to keep those in line.

Frankly, Alexander didn't care about the politics behind the Company's work, or how influential their work was in the science community and global relations. He didn't care why they decided to make a suit for an apparent interdimensional conflict, or how they had even managed to figure out how to properly test such a thing; he was just glad that their desire for perfection was keeping his organs where they belonged: inside him. The armor was sturdy, flexible, and it was taking one hell of a beating that would have otherwise turned him into mush by now.

Shortsighted? Yes. Were there more important things to focus on? Yes.

The first thing was how his bullets were doing next to nothing. The Machamp took each and every single round with stride, not at all hindered as it approached Alexander. Its skin was rippling as the muscles underneath simply absorbed the force behind every bullet, falling to the floor as flattened pieces of metal without any substantial effect to the monster. The small scratches and gouges were nothing in comparison to the destructive energy the bullets always held, serving to taunt the grunt as he awkwardly backpedaled away from the looming beating.

A dull click ended his cascade of steel- which wasn't very effective, and Alexander ejected the magazine as he slammed in a fresh one before continuing his vain attempt to hurt the creature. He nearly tripped over a chair behind him and dove sideways as the Machamp lunged, getting a fraction of a second of warning that allowed him to slip past as the suit registered the tensing muscles in its legs. The grunt struck a table and rolled over it, crushing glassware as he landed on his feet on the other side. He was already opening fire before he had even touched the ground, but it didn't last long as the superpower pokemon lifted a heavy wooden table and single-handedly tossed it at him like a frisbee.

It passed over the grunt in a blur as he rolled, finding his feet again as the Machamp simply flattened the furniture between it and him. Alexander replaced another spent magazine before there was a brilliant flash in the other room, a reminder that more hostiles were coming. Dodging another hundred-pound frisbee he tried to flee further, cursing as his center of balance threw him in every direction but where he wanted to go. Chairs were tripping him up, and with dread, the grunt ducked to avoid a swing by the machamp, who had caught up to him with ease.

Too little too late did he realize the swing was meant to be avoided. Another meaty hand clamped down onto his Scizor, lifting it and crushing it like a soda can; the attached strap jerked him to his feet before a sweep of its leg took his own out from under him, and the two arms not in use came down on his chest, slamming him into the ground hard enough for Alexander to break through the floor.

The suit was the only thing that gave the grunt a chance to figure out what had happened. The main piece of armor on his chest, already heavily damaged from prior fights, crumpled as it absorbed the impact. The shock traveled through the adjoining pieces of armor before the magnets failed, causing the metal piece to partially dislodge.

 _It baited me..._ The grunt registered, twitching as his suit popped. There was another flash of light followed by a deafening crash somewhere beyond Alexander's range of focus; Kara was working on whatever else was attempting to get in through the front and couldn't babysit him.

 _It's not like she babysits me- I don't need anyone to look out for me. I'm a grown man, not some twerp who can't multiply. We're partners... though, she was technically supposed to keep an eye on me when we... damn it. I don't need to be watched, I can handle myself!_

The random thought was shut down by an angrier one.

 _You're a soldier: man up and focus on the now. Kara's fending off a lot, so quit wasting time. The big ass knife, grab it and stab the thing somewhere soft. It's here, get ready- this place has rattata in the floor? They better not have had a high food rating._

A bunch of startled eyes was watching him, and whether he did it for the hell of it or not, the grunt wheezed: "Any of you chefs cook ratatouille?"

Believe it or not, Alexander got an answer. One of the little buggers perked up, but it could have been his imagination calling as a bulky hand clamped down on his chest plate and reminded him that he wasn't doing a good job being a soldier.

It lifted Alexander by the compromised armor and sucker-punched him as he tried to stab it, letting go and allowing the force to send him into the bar. Stools scattered and the wood top behind him splintered as the grunt stopped, cracking his neck as his head whiplashed into the oak behind him. He froze as his stomach heaved, thankfully empty. The sour taste in his mouth didn't help him focus, but he was adapting. He never swore off his training for a reason and felt some satisfaction as he kicked off the floor and over into the workspace behind it.

Shattered glass crunch under his feet as Alexander landed, closely listening to how the Machamp's heavy footsteps grew faster into a sprint. He went into a roll as a blur of fists simply mulched the area he ducked out of, reeling as he found himself rapidly approaching the remnants of his ride. Leaping up he gripped the crushed roof and vaulted over the SUV's entirety as he went for a set of double doors that would presumably lead into the kitchen, and by extension, a way out.

He heard the bar shatter and metal screech as the fighting type punted the two-ton vehicle out of its way. Alexander banged through the doors and dove over a serving counter, launching things in every direction as he scanned for an exit sign. Spotting it across the room from where he was, he blurred past rows of stoves and shelves as the entrance behind him exploded. A warning displayed on his HUD telling him to duck, and as he obeyed part of the door passed over him and flattened a fridge.

With how useless his best weapon had been against the superpower pokemon, Alexander felt that running was his best bet. Direct combat had been seismic tossed out the window, and his mind was scrambling as the Machamp smashed through the kitchen like a freight train.

He examined how quickly the pokemon was closing in on him as he ran, shutting out the receptors in his head screaming for him to run faster and to catch his breath at the same time. It was a heavy creature, and it was moving too fast to slow down. It didn't need to, seeing as anything that could slow it down would be smashed into pieces. It was looking to crush him against the wall, then. A basic plan, without much thought into how it could fail. Whatever was controlling this creature wasn't actively paying attention, then. Was the ghost elsewhere? It had to be, the reaction times on this thing were too slow for it to be inside of the pokemon, and the plans of attack lacked depth. He couldn't underestimate it, the entity was still powerful. It was managing to keep it controlled, despite being elsewhere and the pain he had inflicted. Alexander felt his lip twitch; he didn't have the equipment to fight ghosts, he barely had the resources to fight the possessed.

He hardly had the energy to fight. The only rest he had allowed himself came from the plane crash and his seizure. Both wouldn't be counted as such by any other person on Earth, but it was the only times where he had not been awake and moving around at the same time; consider it unwilling, but vital, moments where he had stopped moving and thinking. With over a hundred pounds in armor and weaponry, it was a lifesaver.

At least he wasn't alone. With what was happening around the globe, the man knew deep down that many, many fellow grunts were feeling the burn as well. Scratch that, everybody was feeling the burn. The whole world was feeling it.

Alexander dug deep as the final obstacle between him and the Machamp was erased. His foot landed on an appliance beside him as he jumped, hitting the wall beside him and propelling himself away with his free leg. His hand clamped onto a shelf as he pushed upward, twisting himself into a flip. The corner of his vision flashed grey underneath him, disappearing in a crash as he found himself on his feet again.

The walls had only finished shaking when Alexander smashing into the door made them quake again. It was locked. Giving up on the handle he took a step back, hearing the superpower pokemon grunt behind him as it pulled itself from the mess it had created, and slammed his boot into the cheap metal beside the handle. The bolt gave way within the frame and the door flung open, bouncing off the wall as he surged forward to escape.

And then stopped. A plastic shovel was bouncing across the poorly lit alleyway, clattering against the far wall. He hadn't heard it over the ringing alarms from the street but its bright color stood out in the dark as it moved. Something else then moved at his feet. The grunt slammed a hand into the frame to catch himself as a mound of sand shuddered at his feet. Slowly, the grains shifted as it grew a few inches and rebuilt itself; two pieces of quartz materialized to slowly face the grunt. A decade of training to read faces wasn't needed to understand what the furrowing of the dark sand around the pebbles meant, or what was going to happened when a void opened up just under it.

The sound that came out of that sand would have made the weak piss themselves and the strong cower. It caused the Machamp to pause and step back, despite having achieved getting its fat hands around the human's neck.

 _You haven't caught me yet._

Alexander bared his teeth as he twisted his body back into a healthy position, his knees nearly locking up as over three hundred pounds slammed into them when they hit the floor. Aiming a solid strike into its wrists broke the hold it had, freeing himself before it could recover. The mound of sand did not attempt to go in for the kill while he freed himself, instead groveling after the shovel as if it were a lifeline.

Another took its place instead and began rising into the door frame. With the door blocked he tilted his head slightly, catching an empty aisle he could escape through.

The opening was there, so Alexander booked it yet again. He felt the Machamp recover before he heard its bellow because the floor cracked at his feet, tripping him. He caught himself and went into a slide as his HUD warned him of another airborne object coming at him. The fridge passed overhead without distracting his attention, and he made it a few more yards before he was notified again of more projectiles. He ducked as something knicked his helmet and sent him sideways, bouncing off a stove as the path in front of him was blocked by a table smashing through a row of cooking stations.

Another warning and he admitted he was in trouble. He braced himself as he charged into the mess of steel as the area behind him was sacked, and a moment later he was propelling himself over the row and into the next. He felt the ground hitting his feet when more warnings cropped up, and his eyes widened slightly as something heavy struck his back. The tiles rose to greet him as he smashed into the floor, sliding as his armor jostled and scraped along without any sign of slowing down.

Sparks danced past his vision- sparks that burned and hurt whenever they got too close. They jolted into his flesh as he hit something and came to a halt, burning into his ribs and spine as his chest grew lighter. Disorientated, he rolled and pressed his elbows into the floor, propping himself up slowly and peering down as his chest plate tilted, giving off a final pop as it disengaged and peeled away. It clattered on the floor, falling out of his attention as the Machamp shoved aside some obstacles in its path, striding over and reaching down to grab him.

Its head jerked to the side as something pulverized itself into dust on its temple, clouding Alexander's visor. He had the luxury that was time to drag a hand down his visor and look off to the side, not expecting a geodude to be throwing another piece of concrete at the superpower pokemon's head. It smashed the attack out of the air with ease and took a step towards it, seemingly forgetting his presence with the new gladiator on the field.

The grunt waited a moment and realized that it had indeed shifted priorities, and waited as it began to take another step before acting. He lunged out with his foot and caught the creature in the back of the knee, knocking it down. With his aid given, the grunt struggled backward, dragging himself away from the fighting type so that it wouldn't come back at him.

His eyes shifted back to the rock type as he shuddered to his knees, and with renewed vigor, he focused his remaining energy into standing.

 _I don't have time to watch._

The Geodude was a lighter shade than normal. His savior was young. Too young to be experienced, and too young to be smart. There was confidence in its eyes that he recognized, so much so that the grunt understood that it wasn't bothered by how little it had damaged the fighter. Rock vs. fighting battles frequently ended with the fighting type blowing dust off their knuckles. And, as the grunt realized that he would still be stuck in the room once the fight was over, the confident little Geodude decided to charge at the Machamp.

Whatever dreams and inspirations its trainer had put in its head were carrying it to the Machamp, to whatever glorious outcome that beat the odds no matter how slim it appeared. The Take Down ended when the fighter grabbed it firmly by both arms and used its other two to crush it into dust.

Mineral formations and pieces of stone scattered everywhere as it dropped the amputated limbs, and without a moment of contemplation, it turned to finish off the human. Everything turned white for it as Alexander squeezed a trigger, unloading a fire extinguisher's contents directly into its face.

Possessed don't feel fear. They're tools for whatever ghost wanted their body for. Sometimes they don't feel pain, either; or at least, they're not allowed to express it unless the ghost sees fit to allow it. It's bottled up alongside whatever soul was trapped within its own body. However, that's assuming the ghost is also residing within the body, using it as a personal vessel. In this case, the spirit was elsewhere doing other things, presumably with a lot of other vessels at once. It had less influence and control over an individual then.

So it couldn't prevent the host's primal reaction to being blinded and choked at the same time.

 _I can settle for this. If you were something other than a puppet I'd be laughing._

Alexander pushed forward as the Machamp stumbled back, feeling childish glee as it hacked and blindly ran at him. A flurry of fists cut through the cone of white fluff without bothering the man as he sidestepped, letting it careen past him and out of his way. Panic was predictable. There was only so much the possessed could do in its state, and without much effort, Alexander was past it. He eased off the trigger to keep the spray from giving it a hint that he was behind it and returned his attention to hobbling back to where he had originated from.

Another person stumbled into the doorway. Torn flesh marred the side of his head and stained his uniform, but Scott stood firm as he fired upon the Machamp with a rifle he had been carrying earlier. His eyebrows rose and his eyes widened as he did, and the grunt's confusion ended as the world around him exploded.

* * *

It had been a long time since Scott had stepped foot in the Corviknight, a night club for the upper class. The last time he'd been here was with his dad before he had found out he was the most corrupt bastard in the Hau'oli police department. Last he heard it had changed hands to a person that gave him the same vibes his pops had way back when, but he hadn't cared. The place had been ruined by the truth. It still looked as nice as ever, at least. The new owner hadn't destroyed it, seeing how the private lobby hadn't changed one bit in the several years Scott had seen it last. Grand, neatly arranged oak tables, chandeliers, red lighting, and a dark band stage brought him back to a time he hadn't thought about in a while.

As for why he was in the private part of the club he had left behind was beyond him. He had sworn off the place and vowed to never set a foot through its doors, but here he was, sitting in one of the leather seats lining the walls...

The Corviknight didn't have seats like that. Or metal armrests.

Scott slowly looked from the sturdy wooden chairs within arms' reach and down, blinking when he focused on a wall of white directly in front of him. It was stained red for reasons he couldn't decipher, and his head hurt trying to figure it out. It wasn't a hangover. His head burned from his ears to his collar bone. Swallowing a painful lump growing in his throat, he looked further down to a bunch of broken plastic and glass, and with a grunt, he pushed at his armrest. A shine off his chest caught his eye as the entire section of plastic and steel fell away from his side, and the man reached up and touched his badge blankly.

 _I'm in uniform. It's... red. It's all red. Why is it red?_

Scott reached around the badge and touched the inky black material on his chest, feeling the familiar coarse feel of the fabric. He was in his normal uniform, with a kevlar vest secured overtop of it. Letting his hand slip from the material his fingers brushed a different texture, and upon inspection, he traced it up to his neck where it was biting into his flesh. Tugging at it a few times to ease the burning he started looking sideways, and the image of the night club started diverging from how he had last seen it.

The untouched portion of the club was lucky compared to what had happened to the rest of it. It was like a bomb had gone off and torn most of the place to pieces.

 _I'm sitting in a car at the rear of The Corviknight club. It's not my car. I don't know where I got this car, and I don't remember how I got here... The place must have been evacuated._

Scott touched his face and quickly pulled his hand away. "God damn..." The officer grunted and fumbled with his seat belt, freeing himself. He hoped that nobody else had been hurt. He couldn't hear any signs of panic; no sirens or yelling, no normal reactions from a car crash of the likes from which he was waking up.

His first few steps were unsteady as Scott worked off the loopiness he felt. They became easier the more he walked; a good sign all around for any victim of an accident. He wasn't going to leave the scene-no, he had a responsibility to the people and the force to stay on sight for an evaluation and proper action. There were procedures for this. And paperwork. Enough paperwork for it to cross his mind and make the man sigh. He was porked. The force would throw him behind a desk for the rest of his career if somebody was injured. They could hold him accountable for damages if they couldn't afford the legal fees. They'd thrown more than one man under the bus to save themselves. Damn it. He'd worked so hard to get to where he was, and it could all be over in a heartbeat.

 _The power's acting strange. Why are the lights so bright?_

He slowed, looking up at a row of hanging lights above him as they grew harsh. Clamping his eyes shut, he threw up an arm for good measure to block out the glare that burned his head further. A flash later, and the glare ceased, followed by audible pops and tinkling of glass bouncing off the floor. Scott pinched his eyes shut and opened them as the rest of the lights blew. The darkness encapsulating the room made his pulse quicken, and he started speeding for a set of curtains that led to the front.

It all came back to him when he pulled them aside.

Arresting his little shit of a nephew and his friends for vandalism. Driving off the road when the trunk and his belt exploded. The flash mob that engulfed the country and left it in a spasming state of shock. Dropping off his nephew at his house when the looting and hysteria spread. Navigating through the streets of a chaotic Hau'oli to the shell of his destroyed station. Finding half of his commanding officer burning on the front steps. Regrouping at the pokemon center before the military arrived in force. The cobbled-together response to the city's desperate downfall into anarchy. The Palossand. His best friend shooting him in the face.

Here.

A great flash of light blinded Scott, and he stepped back as all the windows at the front exploded inwards. Glass peppered his face before he used the curtains to shield him, and through the billowing fabric, he saw a car thrown fender over fender past the club and out of sight. He'd seen enough. The wall of sand and the lightning was all he needed.

The fear came thundering back, as well as where he needed to be. Scott spun on his heels and went back to the remains of the vehicle. He reached down and picked up the rifle the military had given him: an M16 from whatever reserve they had kept from the last war. It wouldn't do much against the monsters, but it was more comfort at this point. Gripping the steel firmly the officer started running towards an available emergency exit until a great crash from the kitchen area broke his narrow focus.

The man he had been with. The Interpol agent the military had pulled from thin air and thrown into his unit without an explanation. He had left him in the car. That son of a bitch.

Another great crash shook the ornate chandelier hanging above him, and Scott started towards the opening until he slipped. His back protested as he hit the floor, stunning him. Cursing, he put a hand down to rise and felt warmth emanating from the stuff he had slipped in. The iron invaded his nose a moment later and Scott felt his jaw lock as he spun his head around, nearly bumping his nose on the trainer's open hand. The officer flinched and scooched away, finding his grip on hardwood not painted a new color and started rising. Guilt and horror played with his mind as he looked at the ravaged body, feeling acid rising up his throat.

He didn't know the kid's name, or why he decided to fight for a country that wasn't his. He'd been a tourist, that much he could tell. Some sunburned kid that came in with an influx of people that had survived a capsized cruise liner a few miles out from the harbor. Poor kid had been quiet, and after his roster had been documented more than a few of Scott's coworkers had guessed that a pokemon of his had flipped the ship.

It wasn't like he had asked him about it upfront. Scott had the opportunity, but he didn't want to disturb the kid within the first few minutes of meeting him. He instead talked about some of the kid's pokemon and his journey before the riots.

There was a Pokeball still on the kid's belt. It was the geodude the kid had gotten from Rustboro City. The officer paused and tried to not look at the torn flesh around it, and his stomach rebelled as he plucked the orb from its holster. He managed half a step back before he retched on the floor, expelling the remains of his last meal on the expensive hardwood. Shuddering, he looked at the Pokeball and rubbed a thumb over the button. Biting his lip the man lowered his arm and strode to a nearby table, ripping off the tablecloth with a fine flick of the wrists and covering the remains of the kid. Grabbing at the corner of the same table he started shoving it closer, knocking off the glass and silverware he had preserved as he tipped it over, blocking the corpse from sight.

Huffing, Scott enlarged the ball and released the pokemon. A Geodude manifested, and he pointed towards the kitchen and ordered: "Go defend the other officer! I'll catch up!" It looked confused and startled, but it recognized Scott from the little time they'd spent together. It only saw him standing beside a table. So, it listened and charged into the kitchen.

The man slowly looked down at the staining cloth. The kid's parents would never know where their baby was. He wouldn't get to grow up and enjoy everything life could have offered him. He wouldn't fight, marry, or have grandchildren. All he got was a painful death in a foreign land, surrounded by people he never knew.

Scott had to get home.

Spitting out the remaining bile and blood in his mouth, the officer shambled towards the kitchen. A loud crack inside made him pause, and a thunderous explosion on the street shook the ceiling hard enough for the dust to slowly fall from the rafters above. His breathing grew shaky as he sped for the entrance before him, struggling to keep it together as the city he grew to love came apart at the seams.

Stumbling the last few feet, Scott steadied himself against the broken frame. Calling it a kitchen wasn't correct anymore; it looked closer to a scrapyard than a place one would prepare food. The agent was stumbling towards him with a fire extinguisher in hand, looking significantly worse as a Machamp wiped the foam from its face. Two stone arms amid a pile of colorful pebbles told him what happened to the geodude he had sent in first, and the culprit cleared its eyes finally and spun to charge at the agent.

"Don't you dare take one more step!" Scott barked, raising the rifle at his friend. The superpower pokemon had been on the force for over four years, and he had had many drinks and get-togethers with its handler. The same one who'd shot him. The officer felt his heart sink as it ignored him and began to stride after the agent, paying him no attention. He wasn't going to get through to it; the years they'd trained and been around each other meant nothing under the control of the demons outside. He couldn't hesitate because it wasn't. Taking a few steps away from the wall, he put his cheek to the steel and squeezed the trigger, breathing in sharply as he did.

Rotten eggs, he tasted rotten eggs. His lips twisted as the sour taste graced his lips, and he felt all his muscles tighten as the air caught fire.

 _Oh-_

He closed his eyes as the heat nearly cooked them, and a blast of super-heated air hit him like a truck and launched him backward. He felt the floor sliding beneath him as the heatwave washed over, pushing him further along the ground before he struck something strong enough to stop him.

Scott sucked in a breath of hot, acidic air as his chest screamed. He gagged and felt tears running down his face; little trails cooling his skin before evaporating in the heat.

 _You need to get up right now, or you'll burn to death. Just like the detainees that were stuck in their cells when the precinct went up. You heard what they sounded like, and that will happen to you. Now move._

His muscles spasmed as he shifted his arms, wheezing as he forced them under his chest. He cracked his eyes open to a blurry canvas of red and orange as he pushed, using the screams branded in his head to spark the resolve he needed to push himself up. A muscle twitched and he shuddered, gripping the floor with dirtied nails and heaving his sorry mess of a body into a sitting position. His arm trembled as he rubbed at his eyes with the back of his sleeve, opening them again as something crashed nearby.

The wall where the kitchen had been was crumbling, flames licking up it and engulfing the remains of the bar faster than the officer could track. He could see pieces of burning debris scattered among the rest of the building through the smoke that was filling the room, some glittering through the chrystals from the now fallen chandelier.

Scott gritted his teeth and pressed himself further back, using the studied beam behind him to get him further to his feet. He stood, stooped low as his entire frame ached. His rifle rested by him, and he slowly reached down and picked it up. Growling he rose further, noticing movement among the debris as he did so.

Markus was struggling to rise, shoving off planks of wood from his suited body. Scott watched the agent for a moment before stepping away from his support, putting one foot in front of the other until he was grabbing one of the larger planks and lifting it off his back. He tossed it aside and grabbed a second one, lugging it off the larger man. Another chandelier came crashing down, shaking the floor as the agent shuddered in his attempt to rise. His armor was scorched and charred, and the longer he struggled by the officer, the more he saw how beaten and bloodied it was.

Scott dropped his hand in front of the lowered helmet, noticeably making Markus flinch. The visor started rising, and the officer saw a dark pool of an eye through a missing shard in the glass. He was uncertain and tried again to rise without assistance.

There wasn't time, and they both knew it. Scott reached down and grabbed the man's hand, and the agent held on tightly as the officer struggled to help the heavier man to his feet. His brow tightened in concentration as he grunted, leaning back as inch by inch Markus rose, each going by faster as he found momentum. Taking a step back to keep his balance, he looked up at the visor, ignoring all the fire reflecting off its cracked surface and into the eye of the man that had just survived an explosion.

"I know a way out." He croaked, letting his hand slip free before grabbing his forearm and leading him towards an emergency exit. Before he could reach out and push the bar Markus tugged him back, shaking his head.

"Schmall Paloshand... alleyway." The agent slurred and shook his head slightly, putting a hand to his visor. "Find a different path."

Scott scowled slightly. The agent was pretty banged up to be moving around. He'd worry about it later, now he had to figure out where they could go. The officer sighed and looked around quickly, and a memory of him eating in a secluded room crawled out from a deep recess in his mind. Without hesitating he grabbed a piece of Markus' armor and began leading him to across the width of the club.

Passing a hole in the floor the agent slowed and fell to a knee. He bent down and plucked a large machete from the lip of the hole, and Scott helped lift him back up when his knees started trembling.

 _Big guy like you can't be slowing down right now. Come on, we're close._

The open doorway was hidden in the dancing shadows from the fires, right where Scott remembered it was. The staircase sucked the energy out of both of them as the heat and smoke increased, but there wasn't another option. It was suffer or die, and Scott wasn't dying. He was getting home.

Sweat ran down his back as he started shouldering more weight from the agent as he lost his energy, and he started to wonder if Markus was going to make it to the fire escape on the roof. He focused on making that happen instead of the ornate rooms they passed, and all the baggage they held over the officer's head. Forcing smoke and fire into his lungs once more, he started leaning forward and forced the both of them to speed up.

The crackling was growing louder by the time they reached the ladder, and with a grunt, he pushed Markus ahead of him. "It's just a few feet up, we'll make it." The Interpol agent looked at him in disbelief and then at the hatch above them.

"Oshawatt you mean, that's a few feet?"

Scott blinked. "Pardon?" A pun. Markus just laid out a shitty pun while they were struggling to not burn alive.

The serious look in the agent's eye didn't betray him what so ever, and with a grunt, he turned and sheathed the machete in a part of his armor before grabbing a rung. He struggled but managed to leave a bewildered Scott behind to stare up at him until he managed to open the hatch.

A shudder running through the building made Scott scramble up the ladder as quickly as he could manage, nearly blind as the smoke found a new exit and billowed out. Holding his breath he found his grip on the side of the hatch and felt his muscles scream at him again.

 _Not now. You're right here, just a little further._

The officer exhaled and brought in a lungful of smoke, choking as he strained to pull himself higher. His arms refused to budge, and a shallow curse escaped Scott's lips as his muscles locked up. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't see.

He almost didn't feel the large hand that clamped down on his arm and hauled him up a few feet. Suddenly the air was cold. Fresh. Scott took in the deepest breath he could before his lungs rebelled and made him hack, and a moment later he pulled himself up and fell out of the hatch and onto gravel.

Silence persisted a moment as his lungs slowly began inviting more oxygen into them, and Scott cleared his eyes again as Markus tried to rise from his kneeling position beside him. He noticed red and orange in his visor before the man struggled forward on his knees, and the officer rolled over to see what was happening.

The buildings around them were aflame. Papers, debris, and sand fell from the sky like snow as Scott crawled after Markus, who he couldn't read as he stumbled towards the edge.

"Wait!" Scott wheezed, finding his hands and knees. "The exit is across the way! Where are you going?"

The officer managed to find his footing and stumbled after Markus, catching up to him at the end of the building. They stood beside the dark neon sign and looked into the streets, shattered and fused with stone and steel and glass. Burning shells of cars belched smoke into the sky alongside the buildings, and among them were pokemon. A Rotom, a few Haunter, a Gengar, a Rhydon.

The same Rhydon that had a dead owner.

Markus cursed quietly as it looked up. The drill pokemon's mouth fell open slightly as it looked for someone that wasn't there, and its eyes widened. The group of ghosts looked up as well, with reactions consisting of surprise, shock, and recognition. The two humans could hear the whine building up in the Rhydon's throat, slowly building in pitch and volume.

The officer noticed the demeanor change in the congregation of ghosts when they turned back to back. The ground shook, and as he leaned further out to see down the street a wall of sand taller than their building stormed around the corner and smashed into a skyscraper-like a river, and the air was filled with a horrific groan as multiple stories of steel buckled and gave. Eyes peered from the river, and another deep crash thundered from the other end of the street as another Palossand arrived. The congregation bristled, dark lashes of energy and orbs of night began forming around them as the sandcastles stormed forward, sweeping through the streets like water and carrying everything with them.

Scott covered his ears as a scream cut through the noise of falling buildings. Normally he would call it a roar, but the sound that came out of the Rhydon transcended his definition of what roaring was. There was heartbreak, hate, and loss in the sound, and Markus nearly fell over before the drill pokemon even raised both of its fists into the air and slammed them into the ground with everything in its power.

Scott lost his footing and grabbed ahold of a letter in the sign as the entire world quaked. Cracks in the pavement turned into gulleys, then ravines. The buildings swayed like grass in the wind, crumbling and falling as great cracks formed in the roof they were standing on. The officer yelped as the sign started coming apart, the letter supporting him breaking free and nearly taking him with it as it toppled into the street below. The earth shuddered again and the street collapsed, dropping dozens of feet as the sewers collapsed. Both Palossand stopped in their tracks, screaming as the earth shattered beneath them and sucked them into its depth, slamming back together as foundations slipped from their mooring and shattered.

The congregation froze as it happened, and spun as the drill pokemon fell with the street. The shaking didn't stop, and another blood-curdling roar rose from the ravine as the shaking grew in intensity and the buildings disintegrated.

Scott couldn't hear himself screaming. Couldn't hear anything at all as his ears quit from the sensory overload. The stones shook beneath him and jumped bruising ribs and making him scream until his vocal cords threatened to give out. Hands far colder than the air grabbed his shoulders and lifted the officer from the roof of the club, and he didn't stop screaming. Not when his city was being torn to shreds.

The officer flew, traveling straight up into the air and above the tallest buildings. He watched as the Coviknight club imploded into a ball of cinders and flame, as the surrounding building fell and buried it under hundreds of feet of concrete and steel. The ground sank, deep chasms rippling through the crumbling city and into the marina, bringing forth more rivers then all the natural canals combined.

Far above the city, two humans and many ghosts watched in horrified silence as skyscrapers fell and the city's landscape changed forever.

"Wh... what do we do?" The Haunter holding a now limp Scott asked. The silence continued for a while longer, with everyone muted by the calamity before them. The shaking hadn't abated, but the officer still turned his head to the marina, being taken apart by sheer force from the earth it resided on.

"The water." The officer whispered, not registering that the ghost that had saved his life was speaking common. The Gengar looked to the beaches and broken Mariana, and the look in its eyes grew even more intense.

"Get the humans somewhere high. Now."


End file.
